


Citrus and Lavender

by Selkie077



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs Help, Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Aged Up: 16, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gabriel World's Worst Everything, Hurt/Comfort, It's a love square mess, Ladrien | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Ladynoir | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug, Marichat | Adrien Agreste as Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Needs a Break, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Seriously Gabriel Is An Awful Parent, Slow Burn, Someone Get These Kids Therapy, enemies au, eventual identity reveal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:26:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 56,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28845291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selkie077/pseuds/Selkie077
Summary: The Black Cat and the Ladybug Miraculous were meant to be a pair. They were meant to be partners. And yet Ladybug had found herself fighting against the one who was meant to be her ally from day one. Hawk Moth and Chat Noir have been terrorising the city of Paris for three years now, and she isn't any closer to finding out who they are or what their goal is. All she knows is that they are after her Miraculous.Ladybug is tired of this neverending fight, but the fate of the world resting on her shoulders leaves her no choice. Chat Noir picked his side a long time ago and there's no convincing him to reconsider. ...Right?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 100
Kudos: 170





	1. All My Words Escape Me

She could do this. She’d been waiting _all day_ to do this. She’d even gotten up extra early to finish making and decorating the macaroons, much to the shock and amusement of her parents. She had this. If this was a test she would ace it. She was confident, likable and had sweet treats that _just so happened_ to be his favourite flavour. She could _totally_ do this.

“Ready Marinette?” her friend Alya grinned and gave her a playful nudge, “Just like we practiced.”

“J-Just like we practiced.” Marinette repeated as she robotically held the pastry box containing the precious passionfruit macaroons in front of her, “I g-go up to h-him and say...and say…”

Marinette.exe error. File not found.

Marinette let out a high pitched whine, “ _Oh god what do I say?!_ ”

Alya chuckled as she placed an arm around her friend’s shoulders, “The fencing practice is finishing up as we speak. In a few minutes Target Sunflower will be walking through those doors, where _you_ will just so happen to bump into him.”

Marinette nodded wordlessly, still holding the neat box of macaroons straight in front of her as though the cold winter air had frozen her in place. Her wide eyes followed Alya’s gesture to the front doors of their school, a casual and very normal place to ‘just so happen’ to run into certain people.

“You say you happen to have some leftover macaroons from the little study group we _definitely_ had, and ask if he wants some.” Alya continued, “Then it’s conversation officially started. And while he’s all sweet on your baked goods, it’s the perfect time to ask him on a date! Ask if he wants to see a movie sometime!”

“O-On a...a…” Marinette stuttered before gulping down the lump that had wedged itself in her throat.

Alya made it sound so easy but Marinette knew for a fact that she would trip over her words and her own feet like an absolute lunatic.

“I can’t do this!” Marinette whimpered as she tried to back away, but Alya’s arm held firm around her shoulders prevented her escape.

“ _Yes_ you can.” Alya insisted, “You’ve been pining after him for - what? Three years now? You really need to step up, girl. This was cute at thirteen, but at sixteen it's getting a little much.”

“Maybe I _like_ pining. I can sit a good distance away where no one can see or hear me and just appreciate him from afar.”

“You do hear how creepy that sounds, right? You are going to stop waiting on the sidelines and jump in there!”

“I don’t know Alya…”

“Too late. There’s the fencing club coming out now.”

Marinette whipped her head towards the front doors of the school where people were trickling out. Marinette recognised some of the students of the fencing club after having watched some of the practice sessions, but apart from a select few she didn’t really know any of them personally. Her heart seized up in her chest while her lungs gave up functioning, becoming hopelessly petrified as she watched them. Some of them were chatting while others were childishly rough housing with one another, still thriving on the energy from their competitive fencing. Her eyes darted from one person to another as she searched for the only one that really mattered to her in that moment.

He was the last to leave through the large doors of the school building, preferring to lag a little behind the others as he dug around for something in his coat pocket. Marinette felt a gentle blush creep onto her cheeks as she looked at him. His blonde hair captured the low winter sun beautifully, giving him a soft golden halo. His mesmerising green eyes appeared deep in thought as he looked down at whatever was in his coat pocket. He was wearing the blue scarf she’d made for his birthday a few years ago, making her heart kick into overdrive as she watched him adjust the accessory around his neck to help ward off the brisk chill in the air. He was perfect.

_Adrien Agreste._

“Target acquired.” Alya sniggered, “The Sunflower is in sight. Deploying the Fair Maiden!”

“Wait - fair _what_ ?!” Marinette squeaked, “Wha - hold on - _Alya!_ ”

She tried to dig her heels into the ground, but Alya still managed to push her forwards until Marinette was left standing at the bottom of the steps. When she looked over her shoulder to argue, Alya had already retreated back behind the stone wall that lined the edge of the staircase. She was about to cry abandonment when someone else called out to her.

“Marinette!”

She whipped her head around, her body freezing solid again as she saw Adrien bounding down the steps towards her. Was it possible for someone’s heart to beat at the speed of sound? Cause it certainly felt hers was damn sure trying! What had been a gentle blush had now ignited into an outrageous scarlet across her face as Adrien approached her with a sunny grin.

“Hey!” he greeted casually, his breath visible in the cold air as he spoke, “I thought it was you. What are you doing here? I thought you’d have gone home after class finished.”

Marinette stared at him like a brain dead goldfish, suddenly finding herself lost in the gentle shine of his eyes as he looked at her.  
Marinette.exe has stopped responding. System shutdown.

Adrien’s grin fell to a shy smile when she hadn’t answered him, “Marinette?”

The sound she made could have only been described as when one lets out a tiny amount of air from a balloon. A quiet, drawn out squeak that was painfully awkward.

“Sorry. Did I catch you at a bad time?” Adrien ducked his head slightly as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

 _Say something!_ She urged herself, _He’ll leave if you don’t say something!_

“Alya!” Marinette announced louder than she intended, making him jump, “I wa-was studying Alya! I mean - _with_ Alya of course. We libraried in the study!”

Adrien stared at her for a moment before letting out a soft laugh, “I see. Did Alya leave already?”

“No...I mean yes! She’s gone. _Long_ gone. Just me. Here. Hello.”

Again Adrien smiled at her. It was gentle yet somehow enigmatic, like he was thinking about something but was purposefully holding it back. Her heart was doing a whole circus performance in her chest as she basked in his soft expression, finding herself once again wordless and breathless. She looked down at the box of macaroons waiting in her hands.

_I had some of these for while we studied but there’s some left over. Would you like some? Oh, passionfruit is your favourite? I had no idea!_

It was as easy as that, right? She just had to offer him the box, maybe offer to make him more if he likes them. Maybe mention going to the movies sometime. Easy. ...Right?  
She just had to unglue her tongue from the roof of her mouth first.

“Well, my ride will be waiting for me.” Adrien sighed another warm cloud into the cold air, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Morrow...to...uh…” Marinette stuttered.

Adrien smiled at her once more as he turned to leave, giving her a small wave of his hand. He was leaving. He was going to leave and she hadn’t been able to make a single coherent sentence. Marinette bit her lip as she looked down at the box in her hands.

“A-Adrien wait!” Marinette yelled, once again louder than she had intended.

Adrien stopped and looked at her with wide eyes. He turned back to face her again, tilting his head in confusion.

“Is everything okay?” he asked gently.

Why did he have to be so nice? His polite concern and kind voice were not helping her calm down at all.

Marinette gulped as she instead focused on the box in her hands, “I-I was...with Alya. Studying. And had some...um…”

He waited patiently for her to get her words out, staying quiet for her while she tried to untwist her tongue.

“Do you...want...um…do you study?”

 _Yes!_ She asked him. Wait, hold on. What did she just ask?

“Do I study?” Adrien repeated carefully, pausing a second as his phone chimed somewhere in his pocket before continuing, “Well, yeah. Whenever I have time to that is.”

Marinette was internally screaming. If she ever needed a black hole to open up and swallow her immediately it was right now this second. The _very simple_ plan to strike up a conversation with Adrien by herself was going down in flames. A complete tragedy. There would only be a singular fatality and it was her dignity.

Adrien’s phone gave another insistent chime. He lowered his gaze a moment, making a face as though he was considering just ignoring it.

“Um...your phone…” Marinette whispered when it went off again.

Adrien frowned as he muttered an apology.

Marinette waited quietly while he lifted up his phone. He didn’t even bother to unlock it, only pressing to light up the screen to check what the notification was. Adrien’s brow furrowed as he let out another clouded sigh. Her heart skipped in her chest when he lifted his gaze towards her, his vibrant green eyes looking at her softly as he drew his lips into a thoughtful line.

“Marinette-” he started but was quickly cut off by the sound of a phone going off again.

Marinette’s heart had been soaring in the clouds until that point. But at the series of beeps her own phone started emitting, her heart fell straight back down to earth and dramatically went splat at her feet. She recognised the specific noise her phone was making and as she checked it the flashing purple banner over the screen only confirmed it. It was a public Akuma alert. Of course things had to get worse.

“You should head home.” Adrien said as he adjusted his fencing and book bags on his shoulders, “I’d walk you, but you know how it is for me.”

Marinette could only nod in response as she stared at the alert glowing on her phone screen. As with every Akuma attack, Adrien would have to go check in with his father’s assistant on instruction on what to do now. It was all a little ridiculous, but with his father being protective of him it was important that the Agreste household knew where Adrien was and a safe place for him to meet up with Nathalie or his bodyguard during these attacks. She should be relieved really that there was such a plan in place. Adrien would be safe and also leaving immediately so she wouldn’t have to awkwardly excuse herself to go find some secret spot.

“Message me when you get home safe, okay?” Adrien smiled before quickly turning and leaving.

Marinette’s shoulders sagged as she watched him hastily walk away, “Bye…”

Her eyes fell to the box in her hands where the macaroons remained untouched and unnoticed. That was that then. Another failed attempt.

Marinette dragged her feet back to where Alya was still hiding from view behind the steps. She was furiously scrolling through her phone, no doubt checking recent news feeds after having also gotten the alert.

She looked up when she saw Marientte’s slumped form approaching her, “Damn girl. I’m so sorry. Hawk Moth really has the worst timing.”

“There’s never a good time for an Akuma.” Marinette muttered sourly as she felt Tikki subtly nudging her through her purse.

“For what it’s worth, I thought you were doing okay this time. Maybe next time?”

Marinette just shook her head in response as she started to carefully slip the box of macaroons back into her school bag. She could hear Alya tapping away at her phone, trying and failing to be subtle about it.

Marientte gave her friend a tired smile, “Just go. I’ll be alright. You need to get footage for the Ladyblog, right?”

Alya pursed her lips as she looked between her phone and her friend, “Are you sure? I could walk you home at least.”

“I’ll be fine. Really. You don’t want to miss all the action, do you?”

Alya’s sheepish expression made it clear that she very much did not want to miss a thing.

Marinette forced a smile, “Go ahead. I’ll just go watch the Ladyblog from the safety of my room as usual.”

“Well, if you’re sure.” Alya answered, trying to keep her excitement in check, “I’ll call you later, ‘kay?”

Marinette nodded with an affirmative hum before Alya quickly grabbed her bag and started sprinting down the street. She gave her friend a wave before snatching up her own bag and running around the back of the school building to find a quiet place out of view from anyone passing by.

Marinette found herself alone behind the school’s bike shed, safely out of sight from prying eyes. Given that school had ended already, there were no more students coming to the area to collect their bikes before heading home. Satisfied that no one was watching, Marinette opened her purse.

“I’m sorry about Adrien.” Tikki attempted to comfort her holder as she flew out, “I’m sure you’ll get another chance to try and talk to him again.”

Marinette bit her lip as she shook her head, “I don’t know Tikki. Maybe this is just another sign from the universe that it’s not meant to be.”

“Things have a way of working out, Marinette. You just have to keep believing in yourself.”

“If only everything could be solved with just a little faith. Anyway, we need to get going. Tikki, spots on!”

Marinette took a breath as she felt the overpowering surge of magic crashing over her.

_On the count of ten..._

On the count of ten she would no longer be Marinette. She would stop being an ordinary girl with an ordinary life. She would stop being a teenager who’s only worries involved getting enough sleep, keeping up with her studies and finding time for her fashion hobbies.  
On the count of ten she would become Ladybug. She would be the protector of Paris. She would be the beacon of hope against the threat that had terrorised her city for three years. She would be the perfect hero that always somehow saved that day.

Letting out the breath she’d been holding, she felt the last glimmer of magic from the transformation leave her. She could feel the strength of her body, the endurance and stamina that far exceeded any normal human’s. She took her trusted yo-yo from her hip and securely wrapped it’s string around her wrist and hand.

_Here we go again._

  
  


It didn’t take long to find Hawk Moth’s latest victim. Bridezilla, as she'd announced herself as, was taking any innocent bystander she could find hostage so that they could join her bridal party. She'd set up at the base of the Eiffel tower and was barking orders at her enslaved party, directing them to set up a wedding venue at one of the most romantic places in Paris.

"I need more roses! They have to be white!" She was yelling as Ladybug swung in, "The ribbons aren't right either! Fix them!"

Ladybug wasn't sure how they'd done it, but a large, elaborate wedding arch had been placed in the centre of the space along with an excessive amount of decorative flower bouquets and rows of chairs neatly set out. The people who had been mind controlled continued to busy themselves with turning the area into an elegant wedding scene.

Bridezilla was too busy throwing out demands for her wedding to be perfect to notice Ladybug's arrival, so she swung up onto one of the beams of the Eiffel Tower. She made a quick analysis of what Bridezilla was wearing as she tried to figure out what the possessed object could be. The woman was wearing a beautiful, A-line dress in a shimmering porcelain white. Her dark hair that flowed in loose waves around her face was framed with a very delicate looking veil, and in her hands was a bouquet of pale pink and white roses. The designer in Ladybug wanted to get a closer look at the embroidered detailing on the woman's dress, but she forced herself to remain alert. So far there'd been no sign of _him_ , so hopefully she could get this resolved quickly and head home. For now Bridezilla hadn't noticed Ladybug's arrival, so all being well she would be able to catch her off guard.

Ladybug stood up and readied her yo-yo. Bridezilla's wedding bouquet seemed like a good place to start looking for the akuma.  
The sound of someone landing on another iron beam nearby made her pause.

_Ohhhh of course. This day has been a disaster so of course he has to show up!_

"A pleasure to see you again, Bugaboo!" came a sing-song voice that she made a point of trying to ignore, "I never took you to be the wedding crasher type."

Ladybug scowled as she turned to face him. There he was. The bane of her existence these past three years, second only to Hawk Moth. He was crouched on the beam above her, his green eyes glimmering mischievously as he smirked at her.

"Chat Noir." She greeted coldly, "If anything I think _you_ would be more likely to ruin a wedding party than I would."

" _Meowch,_ My Lady! I happen to be a gentleman and a purrfect guest for any occasion. I'm even dressed for a black tie event!"

Ladybug rolled her eyes as he gestured to his black leather suit. She wasn't really in the mood for his humour. She would much rather be at home unwinding with her sketchbook than listen to his stupid preening.

"Look Kitty." Ladybug sighed, "I'd appreciate it if you'd just call it a day and leave me to get things sorted here."

Chat hummed, twirling his baton in his hand as he stood up, "I'm glad we're on the same page. I happen to have plenty of other things to be doing, so I'll just be on my way as soon as you give me your Miraculous."

"Not a chance."

"Purrlease?"

"Never."

"I should have figured."

Ladybug readied herself as soon as Chat moved. He leapt down from his beam to hers, landing right in front of her and immediately going in for a leg sweep. She jumped away from it easily, letting loose her yo-yo as she moved. With deft precision she controlled the spin of her yo-yo so that it ensnared Chat's leg as he tried to backflip away from her. With a harsh pull, she tilted his sense of balance and had him falling off the edge of the beam before he could correct himself.

"Oops." Ladybug chuckled as she heard the loud crash of him falling on top of the wedding arch below.

She looked down to see him sprawled out in the wrecked arch, it having caved completely from his full weight dropping on it. There was a shower of white rose petals around him from the now ruined flowers that had adorned the arch. He did not look at all impressed.

"You wretched beast!" Bridezilla screeched when she saw Chat, "You destroyed it!"

" _I'm_ trying to do the job we were sent here to do." He hissed back as he picked himself up from the broken wood and flowers, "You can have your dream wedding _after_ you get her earrings."

Bridezilla quickly turned her gaze towards Ladybug. So much for the element of surprise and getting this done quickly.

“I’ll just make her join my bridal party and force her to give me those earrings as a wedding gift!” Bridezilla declared as she pointed her bouquet at Ladybug.

Ladybug had to dive out of the way as a torrent of rose petals shot out towards her from the bouquet. She threw out her yo-yo to pull her away as another floral beam rocketed towards her. Well, at least it was easy to guess now the method Bridezilla had been using to mind control people.  
As she swung herself around one of the legs of the Eiffel tower, she heard the familiar sound of Chat’s baton extending.

“ _Cataclysm!_ ”

She let her yo-yo’s grip slacken immediately, sending her into a controlled dive just as he vaulted up towards her with his hand reaching towards her with the destructive power. Chat let out an annoyed hiss as his attack now overshot her, leaving him to land on one of the supporting beams of the Eiffel Tower, taking care to not let his hand holding the Cataclysm touch it. Ladybug lightly sailed down to the ground below where she had to duck and roll away as soon as she landed, as Bridezilla shot out another storm of petals from her bouquet once again.

“Give me those earrings! I need them for my day to be absolutely perfect!” she yelled.

Ladybug carefully looked around her as Bridezilla stomped towards her on one side while Chat Noir was sliding down the iron structure again. She had grown used to fighting two against one, but she still found it frustrating and often exhausting to do. Maybe a bit of luck would finally kick in and she would be able to finish this quickly.

“ _Lucky Charm!_ ” she called as she spun her yo-yo into the air.

“Not this time Bugaboo!” Chat shouted as he once again launched himself towards her.

A box landed in Ladybug’s arms. It was already open so she could quickly see what it contained.

_Wedding confetti?_

Chat was coming in fast and Bridezilla was preparing to attack once more so Ladybug had to think fast. She scrunched her nose as she focused hard, her eyes darting around for any clues as to what her Lucky Charm wanted her to do.

_Use this..and there...got it!_

“Time to celebrate the happy couple!” Ladybug grinned as she chucked the box of confetti at Chat.

The barrage of little paper hearts hit him square in the face, causing him to squawk in alarm as he became blinded. Ladybug grabbed his arm as he continued to stumble towards her before hurling him towards Bridezilla.

“I wanted _doves_ not confetti!” Bridezilla was shrieking, too angered to notice Chat being thrown towards her with his Cataclysmed hand flailing.

She saw too late and let out a panicked squeal, hiding behind her bouquet just as he reached her. As soon as his clawed hand touched the bouquet, the soft white and pale pink flowers shrivelled until they became no more than ash in the woman’s hands.

Ladybug let out a sigh of relief as she saw the corrupted butterfly quickly shimmer out of the disintegrating flowers as it tried to make its escape. She slipped her finger over the back of her yo-yo to activate its purifying power before tossing it towards the akuma. Like countless others before it, the butterfly was safely captured and transformed back into a shining white butterfly.

“Bye bye little butterfly.” Ladybug smiled as it flitted away.

Her expression hardened immediately as she turned back to Chat Noir, who was doubled over with coughing and wheezing.

“I think I swallowed some.” he hacked as he hit his chest a few times to try and dislodge whatever confetti he’d inhaled.

Ladybug rolled her eyes as she went to retrieve the box that had previously contained all of the confetti.

“ _Miraculous Ladybug!_ ” she called, summoning the torrent of little ladybugs that washed over the area to turn everything back to normal.

The woman who had formerly been Bridezilla was looking around herself now in confusion. As soon as she saw Chat Noir standing near her however she let out a scream and scrambled backwards away from him. Chat stopped his theatrics then, watching the woman with an ambiguous expression.

Ladybug crossed her arms with a smirk, “I think this is where you run away with your tail between your legs, Kitty.”

Chat blinked his green eyes as he glanced towards her, the look on his face remaining unreadable. She wondered briefly what it was that was going through his mind, but forgot the thought quickly as he gave a dramatic sigh.

“One of these days you’ll be head over heels for me, My Lady.” he shrugged as he shook his head.

“I highly doubt that.”

“We’ll see. I still need those earrings of yours after all.”

Ladybug scowled at his devilish grin. She was about to make some retort but he quickly leapt away. She frowned as she watched the black shadow of his figure jump up through the structure of the Eiffel Tower before disappearing out of sight. She really couldn’t understand him. He wanted her earrings and yet she didn’t know why. The Black Cat was meant to be the partner and counterbalance to the Ladybug, but for three years he’d been antagonising her under the orders of Hawk Moth. Master Fu had never been able to offer any insight on the matter. He still didn’t believe that he’d necessarily made the wrong choice in who he’d given the Black Cat Miraculous to, though he did seem disappointed that this was how things had developed. Ladybug had since given up asking questions about Chat Noir as Master Fu never gave her any answers. Chat continued to be an enigma to her. An annoying, rude, cocky and all around disruptive enigma.

Ladybug allowed herself a small sigh to collect herself before turning towards the woman who had been akumatised. Her earrings had beeped to announce the time constraint, but Ladybug was a hero and had a role to perform before vanishing.

She tried to not let her smile look too tired as she held her hand out to the woman, “Are you alright?”

* * *

He landed heavily on the floor of his bedroom after jumping in through the window. He flexed his clawed hands a few times as he took a steady breath. He’d taken his time returning home, enjoying what few precious minutes remained on his transformation before the timer ran out.

His ring beeped out its final warning.

_On the count of ten…_

On the count of ten he would no longer be Chat Noir. He would lose the endurance, the agility, the _freedom_ his transformation brought. He would return once more to being Adrien Agreste, prestigious son of Gabriel Agreste and renowned face of the Gabriel fashion brand. Polite, meek and absolutely _perfect_.

He started walking towards his desk, not caring to stop as the green wash of magic faded from him.

“That would have been a very boring wedding party anyway.” Plagg yawned as he floated down towards the cupboard that hid his cheese stash, “What kind of party doesn't even serve cheese? That marriage is doomed to failure.”

Adrien gave his kwami a small smile as he took off his coat and scarf before chucking them onto his bed. He’d already guessed that Plagg would make some sort of comment on the food selection, or lack thereof, when he saw that today’s akuma was prepping for a wedding celebration.

Sitting down at his desk, he briefly entertained the thought of opening up the Ladyblog to see what Alya would have posted after today. He moved the mouse of his computer back and forth to wake up the multiple screens but ended up not doing any more than that. The desktop background of the photo of him and his mother flashed up in front of him. Looking over the familiar image, he sank back into his desk chair with a sigh.

_I wasn’t even close today…_

Today had been, to put it bluntly, embarrassing. His own Cataclysm had ended the fight in Ladybug’s favour. No doubt his father would be absolutely livid at how clumsy he’d been. He hadn’t really been in the mood for it at all today though. He was busy as always and it left him feeling tired. Classes. Photoshoots. Fencing. Piano. Linguistics lessons. There was always _something_ he had to be doing and for the past three years, various attempts to try and get Ladybug’s Miraculous had been shoehorned in whenever his father wanted. And yet Adrien was still expected to keep up with all of his usual responsibilities. Falling behind in his classes or extracurriculars had never been an option.

 _It’ll be worth it soon…_ he told himself, folding his arms on his desk and he sank his head down to rest on them.

Yes, his father was Hawk Moth. Yes together they’d been causing some... _complications_ in the city ever since Adrien received his own Miraculous. Yes this had gone on for longer than they’d initially intended. But they had a solid reason. A very good one.

Adrien gazed at the photo of his mother, doing his best to ignore the heavy pang in his heart.

_Soon…_

A knock on his bedroom door had Adrien hastily standing up from his chair. He wasn’t even given a chance to respond before the door swiftly opened.

“Adrien.” Nathalie addressed him as soon as she entered the room, “You’re father was...disappointed today.”

Her choice of words made Adrien grimace. He could tell she was trying to soften how angry his father actually was.

“He expects you to do better next time.”

“Next time…” Adrien groaned, “Always a next time. Couldn’t we try thinking of doing something else? Akumatising random people doesn't always seem to be the most effective method. Ladybug’s been getting better at dealing with them. She’s gotten smarter and faster.”

“Then you also have to get better.”

Adrien deflated at her blunt answer. Always better. He always had to do better.

“Your father would like to remind you what it is he’s aiming for.” Nathalie added with a purposeful look towards the picture on the computer screen.

Adrien chewed his lip, “I know but...isn’t there something else we could try? Let me talk to him. Maybe together we can come up with some new ideas to deal with Ladybug.”

Nathalie gave him a measured gaze as she adjusted her glasses. The coolness of her gaze forced Adrien to shyly duck his head, turning his focus to the floor by his feet.

“Dinner will be served soon.” Nathalie said eventually, “You can talk with him then.”

Adrien’s head snapped up again as he gave an eager nod. Nathalie observed him for a moment before turning on her heel and walking out the door.

Adrien let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding until he heard the door click shut.

“Sheesh.” Plagg grumbled around a mouthful of cheese, “That’s the sort of look that turns people to stone.”

“She’s not that bad.” Adrien shrugged as he retrieved his phone from his pocket, “Nathalie means well and she’s actually nice in a subtle way.”

“If you say so.”

Adrien frowned at his kwami before opening a new message he’d received. He smiled when he saw that Nino had sent him some funny video, so he quickly sent back a response of multiple laughing emojis after watching it.  
He stared for a moment at his phone as he tried to remember something he meant to do.

_Oh, Marinette!_

He quickly checked his message log with her to see if she’d sent him anything after earlier. He felt guilty that his conversation with her earlier had been interrupted by Nathalie insistently messaging him to let him know that there would be an akuma and Chat Noir was expected to turn up. It wasn’t often that he and Marinette had the chance to talk alone as just the two of them. Adrien’s chances at hanging out with his friends was few and far between, so most of the time it would be all four of them together. Otherwise it would just be him and Nino.

Adrien gave a despondent hum as he stared as the sparse message history he shared with Marinette. They rarely contacted each other besides the occasional confirmation of meeting places or things relating to school. Maybe he’d been a bit presumptuous to ask her to text him earlier when she got home. He’d ditched their conversation after all, and she’d been trying so hard to tell him something. He didn’t really understand Marinette’s speech troubles, but he found that if he remained patient and good humoured with her she would mostly say what she meant to say eventually. Or at least something close to it.

_She was saying something about studying…_

Adrien considered for a moment before mentally facepalming himself. Had she been trying to ask for help with studying? Marinette was definitely smart, but she had the unfortunate habit of being scatterbrained. Meanwhile Adrien was excessively organised, working through continuous schedules to the minute. Maybe she'd been trying to ask for his help on study habits or something.  
He rubbed the back of his neck as he fretted over what to do now. She’d ended up not messaging him at all, so maybe she was mad at him. Would she be offended if he messaged her instead? He chewed his lip as he turned the thought over and over in his mind.

_She’s my friend. And if she needs help I should offer it, right?_

He nodded firmly to himself before quickly typing out a message to her.

_**Adrien: Hey! Sorry about earlier. Did you get home okay?** _

Yes. Yes, that was good. Casual but making sure to quickly apologise for his behaviour. He nodded again to himself as he sent the message before quickly typing another.

_**Adrien: You were saying something about studying? If you need any help just let me know. I’ll make whatever time I can to help a friend when they need it.** _

That was fine right? It didn’t sound like he was being pushy did it? No,it was okay. He was just politely offering help to a friend. There was no definite commitment to it. She could decline him if she wanted. No problem.  
Adrien sighed as he sent the second message. Now he just had to wait. He took his eyes off of his phone to see Plagg staring at him with a smug grin.

Adrien frowned in confusion, “What?”

“ _Nothing._ ” the kwami sniggered before floating away to curl up on the bed.

Adrien rolled his eyes before looking back to his phone again. His messages had remained unread. Marinette was probably busy then and would answer him later.

By the time Adrien was called down for dinner Marinette still hadn’t responded. The messages still hadn’t been read by her either if the little symbol was to be believed. Maybe she really was mad at him. Adrien shook his head as he entered the dining room. He would be seeing her at school tomorrow anyway and could try to talk to her then.  
He looked down the excessively large dining table. It was far too big with far too many chairs for the amount of people who actually lived in the mansion. And his father certainly never had guests over to make use of all the space. Taking his usual seat towards the end of the table, looking down the expanse of polished wood never failed to make Adrien feel rather small. He looked at the plate that was already waiting for him with a portion of Cobb salad. Low carb and very healthy. His dietician would be delighted  
Adrien looked again over the table, his brow furrowing when he noticed that there was only the one place set. Nathalie said his father would be joining him for dinner.

 _Maybe he’s running late…_ Adrien told himself as he stared despondently at his salad.

The minutes passed by and there was no sign of anyone else coming to join him. He hadn’t touched his food at all in hopes that his father would be along shortly. But it was starting to look like that was clearly not the case. Adrien’s disappointment was quickly giving way to frustration. He let out an angry huff of air through his nose as he rapped his fingers over the dining table.

Through the dining room’s open doors he noticed some movement across the large entrance hall. He was disappointed all over again when he saw it was Nathalie leaving the atelier and not his father.

“Nathalie!” he called out to her.

Nathalie paused before walking towards the dining room, her heels clicking over the entrance hall’s stone tiled floor.

“What is it Adrien?” she asked before pointedly looking at his plate, “You haven’t touched your food.”

Adrien shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “Is um...is Father coming?”

“...I’m sorry.”

“Oh...where is he?”

Nathalie looked behind her as though checking to see if anyone else was there.

“He’s...with _her_ right now. He doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

Adrien felt his heart twist in his chest. His father had been spending more and more time in the basement hidden beneath the mansion lately. Adrien himself had only been permitted to go there a handful of times since finding out his father was Hawk Moth. Only a handful of times had he been allowed to see his mother, resting peacefully in that glass case as though she’d only fallen asleep.

“Can I…” Adrien started, nervously licking his lips as he worked up the courage to continue, “Can I see her?”

Nathalie’s eyes rested on him for a moment. Her usually neutral gaze was tinged with sadness now as she gave a gentle sigh.

“Your father doesn’t want to be disturbed.” she repeated.

Adrien clenched his hands into fists on his lap. It was always like this.

His chair made an outrageous screech over the floor as Adrien abruptly stood up. He didn’t bother to look at Nathalie as he quickly walked around the stupidly large table before exiting the dining room.

“Adrien?” Nathalie questioned as he passed her, “You haven’t eaten-”

“Not hungry.”

He still didn’t glance in her direction as he ran up the grand staircase and headed straight for his room, slamming the door after him.

Plagg shot up from his cozy position on the bed, “Wow, what’s got you in a bad mood? Did they mess up the cheese board again?”

“Plagg, claws out.”

“Woah! H-hey wait-!”

Adrien felt like he could breathe again as he felt the warmth of the magic surge from his ring, flooding him with a sense of strength and purpose. The power to do as he wanted and go where he wanted was something he could never tire of.  
He headed straight for his bedroom window as the green glow of the transformation left him. Hopping up onto the windowsill, he spared a glance back towards his computer screen still lit up with the image of his mother before vanishing into the darkness outside.

  
  


The cold winter night meant little to Chat Noir as he sprinted and vaulted over the Parisian skyline. His suit protected him from the biting cold, but he was still able to enjoy the brisk chill in the air as he breathed it in. He didn’t care where he ran to, he just liked to see how fast and how far he could go. Running over the rooftops on all fours like an actual cat, he slipped through the shadows unseen as he made his way from one street to the next. He felt unstoppable like this. He felt _in control_. If he wanted to run, he could run. If he wanted to stop, no one could tell him otherwise. He could climb as high as he wanted before letting himself freefall for the fun of it. He was agile and fast, able to use his baton in a heartbeat to help him land on his feet every time.  
He grinned to himself as he slowed to a stop to catch his breath. He didn’t really need to, as his Miraculous transformation made it harder for him to get tired from just running around. He paused as he took in his surroundings to try and figure out where his sprinting in random directions had taken him. After a moment he realised he recognised where he was. Slinking through the shadows, he flattened himself against one of the rooftops before peeking over the top of it to look at the building across the way.

The Dupain-Cheng bakery was of course closed at this time. The shop floor was completely dark, securely locked for the night as its owners had already returned to their upstairs apartment. There were a few soft lights on in the apartment, but Chat’s eyes were quickly drawn to the top floor that he knew was her bedroom. He couldn’t see anything through her windows, but he could tell that her bedroom was lit up. Marinette was home.  
Chat smiled to himself. At least that was one less thing off his mind. He knew that it was unlikely any harm had befallen his friend. Even if it had, Ladybug’s Miraculous Cure would have solved any damage.  
The thought of Ladybug made him frown to himself. She had the incredible power of Creation at her fingertips, and all she’d used it for was to stop him and Hawk Moth at every turn. Chat Noir meanwhile only had the power of Destruction. Not exactly the kind of thing that was made for saving people, no matter how much one wanted it.

He rolled over onto his back, crossing his arms behind his head as he looked up to the darkened night sky. In the middle of the city there wasn’t much to see in the way of stars, and there was only a waning crescent moon hanging above him. Letting out a heavy sigh that clouded the cold air around him, Chat closed his eyes.

_Little kitty on a roof... All alone without his lady..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the first chapter of Citrus and Lavender! I'm not sure how regularly I'll be able to update this as I'm still working on another fic, but this one has been on my mind for a while so I just had to start writing it ~~and make more work for myself~~.
> 
> Since it's an AU there will be some slight differences from the canon. Main ones being that Chat Noir has been with Hawk Moth from the beginning and Master Fu is still the active Guardian.
> 
> [Selkie on Tumblr](https://heartfulselkie.tumblr.com/)


	2. So We Walked In Solitude

Marinette had declared the day a major disaster. The akuma attack was the neat little cherry to top it off. When she'd gone home, all she'd wanted to do was unwind with her sketchbook and have a quiet evening in her room. Solace was hard to come by these days, so she would take it when she could get it. Alya of course had called to gush over the akuma attack that day, so Marinette had wedged her phone between her shoulder and her ear as she hummed along with Alya's excited rambling, letting her pencil wander the pages of her book as she sketched. She'd known that someone had sent her a text during the phone call, but she thought nothing of it as Alya was in full Ladybug rant mode. Marinette didn't mind listening to her friend go on and on about it. Alya put up with her own exhausting ramblings after all. She felt a little guilty that she was letting Alya unknowingly fangirl about Ladybug _to_ Ladybug, but she couldn't really stop her without a viable explanation or hurting her friend's feelings. So Marinette listened along to Alya’s chattering and so the message went unnoticed. Even when a second one came through shortly after she quickly put it out of her mind for the time being. It was probably Nino sending her memes again. By the time Alya had finished her detailed update on all things Ladybug, the messages had been completely forgotten.

Until shortly after midnight when Marinette was going to bed. She'd been caught in a good artistic flow while sketching and would have continued if Tikki didn't physically take the pencil off her and demand she get some sleep. She had just been getting into her bed when she checked her phone to make doubly sure her alarms for the morning were on when she saw it.

**_Adrien Agreste: (2) New Messages_ **

She blinked a few times as she looked at the notification on the screen. She must have been more tired than she realised. She was already dreaming about her and Adrien sending cute texts to each other like a couple would.

She blinked again but the notification didn't disappear.

"Marinette!" Tikki chided, "You need to go to sleep. You have school tomorrow."

"...I'm not asleep now?"

"Not unless you started sleeping with your eyes open while talking to me."

"Oh…"

So the message alert on her phone was really there then. Adrien had sent not one, but two messages. Huh…

" _What_?!" Marinette shrieked as she bolted upright in bed.

Tikki quickly hushed her, " _Marinette!_ You'll wake your parents!"

"Tikki! Adrien messaged me! What do I _do_?"

"Maybe try reading them?"

"Oh no...He sent this hours ago! And I ignored it! He must be so upset with me..."

"I'm sure that's not the case. Just read what he sent."

Marinette stared at her phone in her hands as she took a few gulping breaths to try and steady herself. She squeezed her eyes shut as she unlocked the device, allowing the messages to open on the screen. After a few seconds she cracked one eye open. And then the other. Slowly she read each word, taking it all in one at a time as she absorbed what Adrien had said to her.

**_Adrien: Hey! Sorry about earlier. Did you get home okay?_ **

**_Adrien: You were saying something about studying? If you need any help just let me know. I’ll make whatever time I can to help a friend when they need it._ **

He wanted to know if she was okay. He'd been worried about her. He thought she was having trouble with schoolwork and wanted to help.

Marinette smiled to herself as a giddy feeling rose up within her. She lay back down on her bed, allowing herself to sink into her oversized squishy cat pillow. She cuddled her phone to chest as she repeated the words Adrien had sent her in her head.

But then she started to think about it. Adrien had asked her to let him know earlier that she'd gotten home safe. Which she didn't. So he sent her a text to check if she was alright and probably expected her to answer. Which she didn't.

_Oh no…_

Marinette rolled onto her front and groaned into her pillow as she furiously kicked her feet against the mattress. A disaster. She was a complete and utter _airheaded_ disaster.

"Tikki…" She grumbled into her cat pillow as she squeezed it in her arms, "I’m an idiot."

"What's wrong?" Tikki asked calmly.

"I didn't answer him. And now it's been too long I _can_ ' _t_ answer him. He'll be asleep by now."

"It's not that big of a deal. I'm sure he'll understand you were distracted and didn't know. You'll see him tomorrow and everything will be fine."

"Really?"

"Really. Now go to sleep. You can't be caught falling asleep in class again."

Marinette tried to sleep. She really did. But for the better part of night she was quietly freaking out. Part of her was still so giddy that Adrien had been thinking of her. Another part was so distraught she'd missed being able to answer him within a reasonable time. And then there was the part of her that was sleep deprived and very angry that she was still fretting over yet another thing she'd probably blown out of proportion.  
So as she walked into school the following morning, her strong coffee was doing little to clear away the heavy cloud of exhaustion that hung over her. She hadn’t even figured out what to do about the messages Adrien had sent her and how to explain she’d outright _ignored_ them. It was looking like it was going to be two disastrous days in a row at this rate.

 _Might as well make it the whole week while we’re at it,_ Marinette thought despondently as she headed for her classroom.

“Woah there.” Alya raised her eyebrows while Marinette took her seat as she downed the last of her coffee, “Stayed up late again? Or was this another early morning baking?”

Marinette scowled as she slammed her travel mug down on her desk, “No baking. Never again. It was a stupid idea.”

“Okay, okay. Just chill a little. Did something happen?”

Marinette pouted as she turned her now empty mug in her hands, finding the lingering warmth at least a little soothing. She needed to get a bigger mug. One that could hold _a lot_ more coffee.

“Adrien texted me yesterday.” she mumbled.

Alya’s eyes went wide as she beamed at her friend, “What? That’s great, isn’t it?”

“I missed seeing it. By the time I saw, it was already after midnight and there was no way I could send a reply then.”

“O-Oh…”

There was a loud thunk throughout the classroom as Marinette’s head fell on her desk. Their classmates all looked with concern towards the girls, but Alya shook her head and shooed away their attention with a quick wave of her hand. By now everyone was familiar with Marinette’s quirks, so they easily accepted Alya’s prompt to just ignore her.

“So let me guess.” Alya sighed as she patted Marinette’s head, “You spent all night thinking the worst of it, even though it probably isn’t a big deal.”

“I’m so stupid.” Marinette moaned into her desk, “I should just run far away to where no one can find me. Like to Canada or something. I hear Alaska is pretty remote.”

“Alaska is part of the United States, not Canada.”

Marinette let out another pitiful groan and banged her head on her desk a few more times.

“Alright then, let’s see what we can do.” Alya sighed, “Do you mind if I read what he sent you?”

Without lifting her head off the desk, Marinette fished her phone out of her pocket and waved it in the air for Alya to take. Alya took the device and promptly unlocked it as she was already familiar with the code for it.

Alya hummed as she opened the messages, “Let’s see...Hey, sorry about - hm hm hmm - oh. _Oooohhhh!_ ”

Marinette curled into herself as she didn’t want to know what kind of face Alya was making to go along with _that_ kind of reaction.

“Marinette!” Alya said excitedly as she started to shake her, “Do you know what this is?”

Marinette peeked up from where her face was squished against the desk, “The last and final text I’ll ever receive from Adrien?”

“Okay, you need to get a grip. This is a good thing, girl! He’s literally just offered you a way to get some _alone time_ together.”

“...Alone time?”

“Think about it. You and him. Going to each other's houses, or even to the school library. Sitting together, doing homework and helping each other out.”

A dreamy sigh escaped Marinette as she envisioned the scenario, “Our eyes would meet over our physics textbooks, gazing deeply into each other’s gaze and it’d be wonderful...”

“Oooohkay, wouldn’t have picked _physics_ as the most romantic subject, but you do you girl.”

“It’s his favourite subject…”

Alya rolled her eyes, but gave a fond smile as she patted Marinette’s head again.

“Goooood morning, ladies!” Nino greeted as he entered the classroom, heading straight over to stand by their desk.

Adrien followed behind him, looking like a ray of sunshine as he smiled at the girls, “Good morning.”

“Hey there.” Alya responded with a smirk, offering a subtle wink to Nino that made him grin in return.

Marinette’s owl-eyed gaze was stuck on Adrien though. Another day and he was looking perfect as always. She suddenly felt very subconscious of her hastily done pigtails and the small coffee stain on her jeans as a result of her usual clumsiness earlier that morning. She was certain she looked an absolute mess, but he still turned to her with a gentle smile as though she looked almost normal.

“Sorry again for leaving so quickly yesterday.” he said as he shyly rubbed the back of his neck, “Glad you were okay though.”

Marinette opened and closed her mouth a few times like a fish before forcing out whatever mangled words she could, “Nuh - uh - No...I-It’s fine. Sorry I didn’t text your answer - I mean! - _answer your text_.”

Adrien lightly pressed the back of his hand to his mouth as he gave a soft laugh, “It’s fine. I figured you were maybe busy or something.”

“U-Uhm, yeah. Drawing. In my book. Like uhm...yeah. Drawing.” Marinette responded vaguely as she started to mime drawing in her sketchbook.

Dear God, what the hell was she doing? Just kill her now and put her out of this awkward misery.

Adrien’s brilliant green eyes glittered as his smile somehow became brighter, “Oh, more designs? You’ll have to show me sometime.”

Marinette clamped her mouth shut, only giving a weak nod as an answer as she didn’t trust herself to say anything intelligible.

Thankfully Nino cut in so that she didn’t have to say anything more.

“Hey, so Adrien and I were talking.” Nino said as he leaned forwards onto the girl’s desk, “You know that the teacher’s have been bombarding us with homework before winter break right? We were thinking the four of us could get together to work on it. Share ideas and help each other out, you know?”

Alya arched an eyebrow, “You know it’s meant to be _individual_ work, right?”

“We could still help each other out.” Adrien added quickly before shying away at his own eagerness, “It’d be easier to get done, right? If we can go over ideas with each other and proofread each other’s work.”

Marinette’s cheeks blushed scarlet as Adrien briefly glanced in her direction before looking away again.

“I…” Marinette murmured, “I don’t know if - _eek!_ ”

She jumped in alarm as Alya had kicked her under the desk. Not enough to hurt, but enough to scare the crap out of her.

“Sounds like a good idea then.” Alya cut in quickly to cover Marinette’s strange noise, “You sure you’ve got the time though, Adrien? Would you even be allowed to do a group study?”

Adrien gave a nervous grin as he rubbed his neck, “I think if I stretched the truth a little it would be okay. I’m sure I could convince Nathalie to let me join in if I tell her it's a _compulsory group project_.”

Alya pretended to give an incredulous gasp, “Well, look at you being sneaky. Adrien Agreste, have we been a _bad influence_ on you?”

“My boy’s finally figuring out what it is to be a rebellious teenager. I’m so proud.” Nino pretended to wipe away a tear as he put an arm around Adrien’s shoulder.

“I thought being a rebellious teenager meant drugs and alcohol.” Adrien chuckled.

Again Alya feigned exaggerated shock, “Who told you about such things?!”

Marinette remained quiet while the other three continued their banter before class started. It was hard for her to remember sometimes that before Alya and Adrien had started school, Marinette had actually been kind of a loner. She got along with her classmates, but she wouldn’t have really been close friends with any of them. She smiled to herself as they shared a laugh. She was really glad to have them as her friends, as they made the everyday part of her life that much more enjoyable. She just wished her huge fat crush on Adrien wasn’t such a major roadblock for her social skills. If only she were more like Alya, who was fully confident and capable of slipping in little flirtations here and there with Nino. Marinette had no such ability. How Adrien was able to put up with her awkward frog stepping and gibberish word vomit she had whenever she was near him was a complete mystery to her.

“So, you think you can do it this afternoon then?” Alya asked.

Adrien hummed as he swiped through his phone to check his schedule, “Yeah if it suits you guys too. I’ll talk to Nathalie, but since I don’t have a photoshoot I think it should be fine.”

“Oh I think it suits us.” Alya bumped her shoulder against Marinette’s with a smirk, “Doesn’t it, Marinette? A little _group study_ in the library this afternoon, hm?”

Marinette shuffled awkwardly in her seat, “A-Actually I was thinking of-”

She was cut off again by Alya kicking her under the table. So much for going home to hide in her room after school.

“It’s settled then!” Alya announced before Marinette could think of some excuse to get out of it, “The four of us in the library this afternoon.”

Nino gave a nod while Adrien actually looked excited as the prospect of them all doing homework together.  
As soon as the two boys turned around to sit down at their own desk, Alya scooched in close to Marinette with a fiendish grin.

“Don’t you worry about a thing.” she whispered, “I’ll take care of Nino so that you and Adrien can have a little _one - on - one_ session.”

“I don’t know Alya…” Marinette groaned, sinking her head down to rest on her arms as she folded them on her desk.

“You’re worrying too much. It’ll be to do homework of all things, but you’ll be able to spend time together.”

Marinette could feel the heat of her blushing cheeks as she turned her gaze to the back of Adrien’s head. It actually sounded really nice. Maybe if she could do something normal and mundane with him, she could slowly work her way up to asking if he wanted to do something else sometime. Something fun that _couples_ would do, like a movie or going for ice cream.

She subtly crossed her fingers just out of view of Alya as she silently begged whatever forces of fate were in action that day.

_Please no Akumas. Please no Akumas. Please no Akumas._

* * *

_Please no Akumas_ , Adrien pleaded internally as he made his way to the school’s library.  
There may have been an Akuma attack just the day before, but there was often little rhyme or reason to when his father chose for the attacks to happen. It seemed to pretty much be whenever there was someone who could be exploited available, so it wasn’t unheard of for there to be multiple attacks in the same week or none at all.

Adiren checked his phone again, allowing himself a small sigh of relief when he saw that there were no demands coming through from Nathalie that Chat Noir’s presence would be required. She’d been hesitant about letting him stay on at school that afternoon, but he’d managed to convince her that it was important for schoolwork. He just had to make a quick phone call to check in with her once classes had finished before meeting with his friends in the library. He’d told them to go on ahead and get a table for them, as he didn’t expect the call to take too long. And it really didn’t. It was just one of the many courtesy calls that was expected of him so that his whereabouts were known.

“Why would you go to a _library_ of all places?” Plagg grumbled from the inside of his overshirt, “They don’t let you eat in libraries.”

“Because Marinette wanted help. I think.” Adrien shrugged as he bounced up the stairs to the school’s upper floor before striding down the corridor to the library, “And I think she would have turned me down if I offered only my help.”

“That’s seriously what you think?”

“Maybe asking her outright by text was a bit much. It was great of Nino to suggest turning it into a group thing for the four of us. That way there’s more help and we get to spend some time together.”

“No amount of studying is going to fix that brain of yours.”

Adrien rolled his eyes at Plagg’s teasing before quickly adjusting his shirt to hide the kwami as he approached the large wooden doors of the library.

The library wasn’t exactly the warmest place in the school, given that it was a large spacious room filled mostly with rows of bookshelves and old scratched up desks and chairs for students to use. It was still better than the bitter winter chill outside though, and Adrien liked the contrast of how a room could be so large and quiet yet still humming with energy. There was normally a handful of students in the library so there was always some level of activity there. It was a completely different space from his cavernous bedroom that was also massive and stuffed full of furniture and items, yet always felt stifling with its empty, lifeless air.  
As soon as Adrien entered the room, he spotted his friends at a desk in the far corner. Nino was leaning against the table as he said something to the girls. Meanwhile Alya stood behind Marinette's chair with her hands on her friend's shoulders as though to hold her steady in her seat. Marinette was the first to notice him enter. Her head shot up and her bluebell eyes went wide as they locked onto him. Adrien raised his hand in greeting, causing Marinette to jolt in her seat before eagerly waving her hand back at him. And she continued to wave her hand until Alya gently pushed it back down to her lap.

“Nathalie says I can stay until the library closes.” Adrien said as he walked up to them, “But I have to leave after that.”

“Great!” Alya grinned, “That should be plenty of enough time for you to help Marinette with Chemistry.”

Adrien looked between Alya and Nino with some confusion, “Oh, yeah sure. But what about you two?”

“Uhh...Alya and I decided we were going to do some History work instead.” Nino answered sheepishly.

“And because we don’t want to distract you two,” Alya added, “We’re going to go sit waaaaay over there.”

Adrien moved out of the way as Nino and Alya grabbed their bags before Alya promptly steered them to the other side of the room and behind a row of bookcases until they were out of sight.

Now it was just him and Marinette. He shuffled awkwardly on his feet, glancing towards her to see what she was doing. She was sitting stiffly in her chair, silently staring down at the table.

“Would you rather do History?” Adrien asked as he took off his coat before setting it and his bag down on one of the chairs.

Marinette twitched as he spoke, blinking a few times as her eyes moved from side to side as though she wasn’t sure what to look at.

“Chem-Chemistry is fine…” she stammered quietly, “I um, I’m not very good at it though…”

“That’s okay.” Adrien smiled as he took the seat across from her, “That’s why we’re here isn’t it?”

He proceeded to take out his stationary, notebook and tablet from his bag. He was aware of Marinette watching him as he neatly set the items out of the table before hastily following suit herself. He watched in bewilderment before holding back a laugh as she tried to take a few items out of her bag, but somehow some things had caught together and half the contents ended up spilling across the table. Marinette frantically stumbled over her apologies as she hectically started sweeping the loose pens and pages back into her bag.

“It’s fine.” Adrien chuckled as he grabbed a wayward pen that had rolled over the table, “We’re in no rush.”

He offered the pen back to her which she took with mumbled thanks.

“Do you have any preference where we start?” he asked as he swiped his hand over his tablet to look for their Chemistry worksheets.

Marinette mimicked him with her own tablet, her timid gaze set on the screen in front of her, “I-I'm not sure…”

“We can go from the beginning then. Exothermic and endothermic reactions.”

“E-Exo...uhm...endo…”

Adrien brought up the worksheet on his tablet before turning it round for Marientte to see, “In chemical reactions there’s always a transfer of energy. Endothermic processes need to take in energy to happen, while exothermic processes give off energy when they occur.”

“R-Right...I think I remember talking about this in class…”

Adrien smiled as he recapped for her what they had been learning in their Chemistry classes. Marinette listened dutifully, following him as he talked her through the first worksheet they were expected to complete. Slowly they started to work into a rhythm for it. She would nervously ask him questions and he would do his best to answer, offering explanations and examples to help her understand. He already knew Marinette was smart so it was no surprise that she was quick on the uptake for it. But he quickly learned that her penchant for getting nervous or distracted was an unfortunate drawback. Whenever she would start getting overwhelmed trying to figure out one of the questions, he would need to calmly coax her to take a moment to take a breath then try again as well as reminding her she could ask him questions if she needed help.

“H-How are...How do you do this without freaking out?” Marinette mumbled as she put her pen down, following another flustered episode.

Adrien blinked a few times before giving a thoughtful time, “I used to. When I was homeschooled I was often left to carry out my studies alone with Nathalie checking in on me from time to time. But when I started panicking about not knowing how to do something, then my work wouldn’t get done. Obviously that wouldn’t do, so I had to figure out a way of managing it.”

Marinette watched him quietly, her bluebell eyes searching him carefully from under her dark lashes. Adrien rested his head in one hand while he idly twirled a pen in the other.

“I just learned to discipline myself better.” he continued, “If I struggled with a question or problem then I would leave it for a moment and work on something else for a bit. If I still didn’t know what to do when I went back to it later, I’d ask Nathalie the next time she would check on me. That way I would at least have some of my work done rather than just slacking.”

Her eyes slowly drifted down to her tablet and notebook in front of her. She seemed to be considering something as her eyes wandered the messy notes she’d written down.

“Oh!” she gasped suddenly, quickly looking up again, “You’ve been helping me all this time with my work! What about yours?”

“Actually I have a lot of my homework done already.” Adrien answered sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Marinette’s expression became perplexed as her brow furrowed, “Then why...did you want for us to do a study group?”

“I thought that maybe you wanted some help. And really, this is way more fun than doing homework alone in my room.”

Marinette’s eyes went wide at his words while her cheeks tinted a delicate pink. Adrien pressed his lips together in an awkward, nervous line as he suddenly felt self-conscious at his overly honest moment. He floundered as he tried to think of something to say or some lame joke to make to break the silent tension they’d fallen into, but he couldn’t come up with anything. To his surprise, Marinette was the one to break the silence.

“Thank you.” she whispered with a shy smile, “I think it’s fun too.”

“Oh uh...no problem.”

A companionable quiet had settled between them, but it was unfortunately interrupted by Adrien’s phone vibrating in his pocket. He awkwardly excused himself as he took out the device to see what it was. There was still some time before his bodyguard was meant to pick him up so it was unlikely to be the stoic man searching for him.  
Adrien felt like his heart stopped when he saw the message.

**_Nathalie: Akuma in your vicinity shortly. Be ready._ **

He stared at the words in disbelief. Why? _Why_ couldn’t he just have a normal afternoon like other people his age?

“Is everything okay?” Marinette asked quietly, gently reminding Adrien that she was still here and that he couldn’t just run off to be Chat Noir in that exact moment.

“Oh, uh yeah.” He awkwardly cleared his throat, “Look um, I know the library isn’t going to close just yet, but it’s starting to get dark outside. I think we’ve got enough done for today, so why don’t I walk you home?”

The akuma wasn’t active yet, so he had some time to try and get Marinette a safe distance away before anything happened. It also gave him a chance to slip away and find somewhere to transform once his friends weren’t in danger.

Marinette ducked her head as her cheeks turned pink once again for some reason, “Y-Yeah okay…Let’s um, go get Alya and Nino.”

They quickly packed up their school bags and put their coats on before walking around the bookcases to where their other two friends _should_ have been sitting, only to find the table very much empty.

“They left….” Marinette murmured, her shoulders sagging until her bag strap almost slipped off of her.

“I think they ditched us.” Adrien chuckled as he started to head for the door.

“W-What?” she squeaked, “W-W-Why would you think that?”

“Alya and Nino are a couple right? Surely they would rather do something more fun with just the two of them sometimes instead of worrying about us.”

Adrien couldn’t think of any other reason why their two friends would have left him and Marinette alone together like that. He couldn’t really blame them for it though. If he had a girlfriend, he would probably want to have time with just her sometimes too.  
Marinette stared at him a moment before glancing away with a hesitant nod. He wasn’t too sure how to read her response, but as she quickly made her way towards the door he decided to think nothing of it.

They only made it a short walk down the corridor before both of their phones went off. They looked at each other, hearts sinking as they both recognised the specific beeps calling out. Another public Akuma alert.

Marinette’s face paled as she quickly checked her phone, “It’s nearby…”

Adrien gritted his teeth in frustration. Just a few minutes more and they would have already left the building.

“Come on,” he said, making Marinette squeak as he took her hand, “Let’s get out of here.”

They started running towards the stairs but as soon as they made it to the top of the steps there came an explosion from somewhere on the ground floor beneath them.

“The bell doesn’t dismiss you!” a voice roared from within the school, “ _I_ do! And no one’s leaving until you all finish the work you were assigned!”

It turned out _nearby_ and was an understatement. The Akuma was in the damn school with them. Down the stairs he could see something like plastic slowly spreading over the walls, creeping up towards the floor they were on.  
Still holding Marinette’s hand, Adrien turned away from the stairs and ran with her further down the corridor. He looked left and right as he tried to figure out what to do.

“A-Adrien…” Marinette whimpered, “I-I can just-”

“In here.” he told her as he opened the door to a storage closet.

He gently pushed her into the small room before stepping back to close the door.

“W-Wait!” she gasped, “What about you?”

“I’ll go find somewhere else to hide. Just stay here okay? I’ll come for you when it’s safe again.”

Marinette opened her mouth like she wanted to argue but she paused. Slowly she closed her mouth again, giving him a weak nod in acceptance.

“I’ll come back. I promise. Stay safe, okay?” he told her gently before closing the door over.

Adrien took a step away from the storage closet, hesitating a moment before sprinting back the way he’d come. He needed to find somewhere he could safely transform. He slid to a stop when he saw that the plastic coating had already passed the top of the stairs now and was quickly coating the walls as it moved down the corridor towards him. Was...was the building being _laminated_ ?  
Not wanting to find out what would happen if he were in the plastic’s path, he quickly looked around him before throwing himself to the nearest door. It was thankfully unlocked and he found himself stumbling into an empty classroom.

“This wouldn’t have happened if we went somewhere else, you know.” Plagg snarked as he poked out from Adrien’s shirt, “Like to a cafe that serves melted camembert with warm, crusty bread.”

“You can think about your stomach later!” Adrien scolded, “Plagg, claws o-”

The sound of the classroom door being thrown open before slamming shut again cut off Adrien’s command. He whirled around to see who else had decided to take refuge in the empty classroom.  
His breath caught in his throat, making his heart stall as he saw the figure leaning against the door as they tried to peek through the window to see what was happening on the other side.

_Ladybug??_

What was she doing here? Shouldn’t she be fighting the Akuma already? This was bad. This was really bad. Adrien was forbidden from ever being in the vicinity of the spotted heroine as his civilian self. He was to only ever engage with her as Chat Noir, which was now impossible as he couldn’t transform with her literally standing there in front of him.

Ladybug looked over her shoulder for a moment before doing a double take when she saw that he was there.

“ _Adrien?!_ ” she shrieked.

Oh, great. She already knew his civilian name too. Though that was hardly surprising considering his stupid face was on half the billboards in Paris.

“Uh...hi?” he croaked, giving an awkward wave of his hand.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, looking almost afraid for some reason as she flattened herself against the door.

“I’m...hiding?”

“O-Oh right. Right, of course.”

Their awkward run in was abruptly cut off as plastic started to appear along the walls of the classroom. Ladybug squeaked as she quickly stepped away from the door just as it too became completely laminated, sealing it shut. Even as Ladybug tried to open the door, using enough strength that would normally pull it off its hinges, it refused to budge. She even threw her yo-yo at it a few times for good measure, but it didn’t even make a dent in the laminated covering. Adrien turned to look at the windows to see that they too had been locked in place by the plastic coating. They were trapped.

_Oh no…_

Adrien clutched a hand to his chest as he felt his heart rate already starting to climb. Locked doors and windows. No way out. His vision started to swim as he tried to forcibly restrict his panting breaths.

_Don’t freak out. Don’t freak out. You cannot freak out. Don’t you dare freak out!_

Plagg gently prodded Adrien from his hiding place, “We can just transform and Cataclysm our way out.”

“We can’t do that!” Adrien hissed in a whisper, “Ladybug’s right there!”

“But you’re-”

“It’s fine. I’m fine!”

Ladybug giving a considerate hum made Adrien look up from where his kwami was peeking out from his shirt.

“Looks like we’re stuck in here.” she mused as she looked over the door again.

_Oh great, yeah thanks for reminding me._

Ladybug turned to face him, her thoughtful face softening with concern as she looked at him.

“Are you okay?” she asked gently as she started to walk towards him, “You look a little pale.”

“Yup.” Adrien croaked before roughly clearing his throat, “I’m good. Just uh...not keen on the idea of being caught in one place.”

Was the room getting smaller? It felt like it was getting smaller. Or maybe it was just the air getting thinner.

Ladybug approached him a little more quickly now, “Do you want to sit down?”

As she reached out for him, Adrien subconsciously braced himself. He was so used to her throwing him around as Chat Noir that he forgot in that moment she didn’t know that _he was_ Chat Noir and fully expected her to throttle him.

Ladybug noticed his reaction and immediately shied away from him. Adrien stared at her, as he’d come to never expect such a gentle reaction from her. Sure she always appeared to be kind towards the Akuma victims she saved, but he was used to never being on the receiving end of such consideration.

“Here.” Ladybug said quietly as she pulled out a chair and moved it towards him, “I’ll figure out how to get us out of here.”

Adrien watched her as she returned once more to the door, taking out her yo-yo as she inspected the plastic once more.

His legs felt like jelly as he sank down into the chair she’d moved next to him. While she was distracted he took the time to distract himself from the feeling of the impending doom that came along with the sense of no escaping by observing her. Her guard was completely down right now. She had no idea it was her nemesis that was sitting behind her right now. Her nemesis that was trying to not spiral into panic, but even so he should still be a threat to her. She’d only been gentle with him because she didn’t know who he was. He could probably try to take her earrings right now. She was oblivious to the danger he posed after all.  
He thought about it, but he didn’t move. It was hard to think of any sort of plan when it felt like his brain was slowly turning to mush from the chilling anxiety that was twisting through each and every one of his nerves.

Suddenly Ladybug spoke, “There’s a question here.”

“A question?” he repeated as he wrapped his arms around himself, trying to contain the automatic trembling his body was descending into.

She gave a small groan as she ran her fingers over something etched into the plastic over the door, “It looks like...algebra? Come to think of it, didn’t the akuma say something about people being allowed to go home when people finished their work?”

Adrien sprang up from his seat and bolted straight for the door. A way out. There was a way out! Ladybug quickly stepped aside for him as he knelt down to read what was written on the door. He scanned his eyes over the letters and numbers, his mind quickly latching onto a new focus instead of the suffocating dread of his anxiety.

“This is easy.” he murmured as he mentally moved the equation around in his head to solve it, “Do you have a pen?”

Ladybug stared at him dumbly for a moment before quickly looking around the room. She grabbed a pen that had been left sitting on the teacher’s desk before gently passing it to his waiting hand. Adrien’s heart thumped in his chest at how delicate the gesture was, almost like she was treating him and the pen to be unbelievably fragile. It was weird. She was meant to treat him like a bag of rocks, not...not whatever _this_ was.  
He took a breath to shake off the strange feeling and turned his attention back to the question. After a moment he started scribbling into the plastic the answer he’d managed to work out. As soon as he finished writing the last number the plastic coating over the door disintegrated.

“You did it!” Ladybug beamed, “I can’t believe you solved that in your head.”

Adrien stared at her before quickly ducking his head as he felt a warmth light up in his cheeks, “I-It’s nothing..”

They quickly opened the door and stepped out into the corridor. Everywhere was still coated in plastic and as they made their way down the hallway they found their path blocked by another barricade. Adrien grimaced at the indestructible sheet of plastic that prevented them from going any further. They were still stuck.

“Over here!” Ladybug beckoned him over, “There’s another question. Let’s see...This one is Geography based I think?”

“I can do it!” Adrien rushed as he moved to where the question was written in the plastic.

He could do this. This was easy. Just answer some questions and they would be free.

_No need to panic. I can do this. This is fine._

As before, Adrien quickly wrote down the answer he was certain as correct next to the question. As soon as he was finished the plastic before them melted away, leaving the way clear for now.

  
They slowly made their way towards the school entrance like that. There were more barricades with questions to be answered, and each time Ladybug quietly stepped aside to let Adrien to solve it. He didn’t really give her a chance to even try to do it herself though, as he himself was hyper fixated on _getting out_ . But he was slowly getting more and more distraught and frustrated with each barrier. The idea of being forcibly trapped in the one place was slowly eating away at him and he couldn’t stand it. Ladybug was probably laughing at his increasingly panicked state. If she knew he was Chat Noir then she would cease to ever take him seriously again. Though it was debatable whether she actually took him seriously in the first place.  
With Adrien’s quick problem solving they managed to make their way to the front doors of the school.

“This has to be the last one.” Ladybug hummed as she searched the plastic over the doors.

“It’s here.” Adrien told her as he scanned the words before him.

_Some of Van Gogh’s most recognised paintings come from the Sunflowers series. The first of the series was done in Paris, while the second series was done in which other French city?_

….What? It was an art question? Adrien didn’t know anything about art! It was one of the optional classes that he hadn't been allowed to take. And sure he could recognise the paintings done by the famous artist, but to actually know trivia about them? He had no idea.

“Is...everything okay?” Ladybug asked quietly when Adrien hadn’t spoken or written in any answer.

He didn’t really hear her speak though. He didn’t know the answer. He couldn’t even try to logically come up with one. There were so many cities in France, how was he supposed to know which was the answer? What if it was a trick question though? Was that possible?

His mind was going into overdrive as he tried and failed to come up with anything.

_Answer it. Answer it answer it answer it!_

If he didn’t answer it then he would remain trapped there. He wouldn't be able to get out. Stuck. He was stuck.

His breathing shifted to short, shallow pants as the words swam in his vision. He wanted out, but he couldn’t leave because his _stupid_ brain was failing to give him an answer. The pen fell from his shaking hand as he no longer had the strength to grip it properly. The sound of it falling on the floor was almost deafening.

_I can’t do it. I can’t do it. I can’t get out._

A gentle presence carefully slipped into the edges of his vision. It moved slowly as it approached him, kneeling down to his level before scooching a little closer. The black spots blurred over her red figure as she stayed next to him.

_Ladybug…?_

“Hey.” she said quietly, “Everything’s okay. You’re not in any danger. I know it feels scary right now, but I promise you that you’re safe.”

Adrien stiffly turned towards her, blinking through his blurred vision. Did she recognise he was panicking?

“You’ve been doing so well.” she continued softly, “But right now you just need to focus on breathing. Can you do that for me?”

Breathe. He just needed to breathe.

“Just follow me, okay? Breathe in...and out.”

Ladybug exaggerated her breathing, making it both visible and audible so that he could easily mimic her. He awkwardly gulped through some breaths before he was able to follow her a little more evenly.

She smiled kindly at him as his spiralling started to ease, “See? You’re doing great. Just keep breathing like that. Do you mind if I take a look at the puzzle?”

Adrien’s throat still felt unbearably dry, so he only offered a weak nod instead of trying to make himself speak. He clumsily shuffled himself over to the side so that Ladybug could take a look at the question written in the door. Her nose scrunched up as she thoughtfully read over the words there. After a moment her pink lips formed a little surprised ‘o’ and she quickly picked up the pen he’d dropped earlier. Still trying to keep his breathing in check, Adrien watched as she wrote _Arles_ as the answer in a delicate cursive.

The plastic barrier that had been keeping the door sealed disintegrated like all the others. Ladybug stood up and pushed open the large entrance doors, letting in a wash of cool air from outside. Adrien shivered at the winter air entering his lungs, feeling himself sink further to the floor as he looked out at the darkening blue gradient of the evening sky outside.

He jolted in surprise when a hand came towards him.

“Can you stand?” Ladybug asked, holding her gloved hand out to him.

Adrien stared at it for a moment. This was the hand of his enemy. A hand that had punched him countless times and thrown him across the city just as many. But what was being offered to him now wasn’t a threat, it was kindness. Had Ladybug always been kind? His Father and Nathalie seemed convinced that the girl just put it on for show, that there was no way she truly cared that much for other people. Adrien didn’t know what to think.

Tentatively, he reached out and took her hand. Ladybug smiled as she gently clasped him in her hold, carefully helping him to his feet before guiding him through the doors and outside.

Adrien breathed in once again the brisk air, rolling his shoulders as he tried to shake off the lingering feelings of panic that had been hanging over him. As the anxious cloud started to evaporate, his mind started to function more reasonably again. And with it came more reasonable thought.

“Wait, why are you here?” he asked as he turned to Ladybug.

“Huh? Why?” she responded nervously.

“There’s an Akuma somewhere in the school. Why haven’t you gone after it?”

“About that…” Ladybug sheepishly looked away, her cheeks going pink as she shuffled awkwardly on her feet, “I wanted to make sure you were okay first. There was no way I could have just left you behind when you were...when it looked like you needed someone with you.”

His heart thumped heavily in his chest. She could have left him at any time. She could have left him at the start or at any of the barricades he’d figured out. But she didn’t out of concern for him. And if it weren’t for her, he probably would have given up far more quickly and be in a full blown meltdown.

“Oh….uhm, thank you.” Adrien murmured, ducking his head as his cheeks once more felt inexplicably warm.

It was then that he noticed there were still holding hands. Ladybug followed his gaze before letting out an alarmed squeak. She abruptly released his hand and backed away a few paces as she frantically yelped out an overflow of apologies.

“I-I’ll just go and uhm, deal with that akuma.” she stammered as she took out her yo-yo.

“Wait!” Adrien stopped her before she could swing away, “My friend is still inside. I told her I would go back for her.”

Ladybug stared at him a moment before her expression softened with a warm smile.

“I think she would feel better if you stayed safe first. And don’t worry, I’ll take care of things here and find your friend.”

Before he could argue, Ladybug threw out her yo-yo and quickly zipped away back inside the building in search of the Akuma.

The sound of a car door caught Adrien’s attention. He looked down to the road in front of the school to see the familiar sedan waiting with his bodyguard standing next to it. The Gorilla opened the backseat door and gestured for Adrien to get inside. Trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach, Adrien dragged his feet as he walked down the steps and headed for the car.  
The man grunted as Adrien approached.

“I know.” Adrien sighed, “I’m not meant to be anywhere near her.”

Another grunt.

“Can we just stay a few more minutes? Please? I’m just...I’m worried about my friend.”

The Gorilla looked at Adrien with his usual stoic expression. After a few uneasy seconds, the large man gave a gruff nod. Adrien let out the nervous breath he’d been holding as he turned to look back at the school. It was still completely laminated in plastic. Ladybug would fix it though, wouldn’t she? She always somehow did.  
Adrien paused before quickly chastising himself for actually _hoping_ that Ladybug would be the victor this time. But then Marinette was still trapped in the school and probably wondering where he was.  
A few minutes passed and he was considering just transforming and Cataclysming his way through to get Marinette out when a sudden rush of red and pink magic surged around the school building. Ladybug’s Miraculous Cure. He stared in amazement as the little magic ladybugs turned everything back to normal.

Adrien’s phone vibrating in his pocket caught him by surprise. He quickly took out the device to see that he’d received a message.

**_Marinette: Ladybug found me and told me you got out okay. She’s offered to take me home so you don’t need to worry about me._ **

He let out a sigh of relief. Marinette was safe then. He’d wanted to be the one to make sure his friend got home safe, but he could hardly compete with a literal superhero.  
A quiet grumbling from the Gorilla told Adrien that his time was up and he had to leave. Adrien resigned himself to the command and slipped into the back of the car. No doubt he would be getting another lecture from Nathalie when he got home. Not turning up as Chat Noir was one thing, but to be next to Ladybug as his civilian self was absolutely forbidden. She was dangerous and would try to take advantage of him with her fake kindness. She didn’t really care about other people. She just wanted the Miraculous for herself.

Adrien looked down at his hand, slowly flexing his fingers as he recalled the feeling of her hand gently holding his. Could she really fake such a warm and caring nature though? He didn’t know what to make of it. He never really did understand her, but now he felt even more uncertain.

 _It doesn't matter anyway,_ he thought to himself as he turned his gaze out the car window, _it was a one time thing. Next time we see each other, it’ll be Chat Noir against Ladybug once again._

It was impossible for it to be any other way. After all, the Black Cat and the Ladybug had been destined to be enemies from the start, hadn't they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cough wheeze* That was a long chapter.  
> Trying a slightly different format from my other fic with longer chapters. But maybe this is too long? I'm not sure haha..  
> An Akuma event without the actual Akuma fight happening? What? ~~I just really wanted to write some ladrien okay i'm sorry~~
> 
> Thank you for all the comments and kudos you guys left on the first chapter! I'm glad you're liking it so far.
> 
> [Selkie on Tumblr](https://heartfulselkie.tumblr.com/)


	3. We'll Pretend That We're Okay

Adrien crept in through the front doors of the mansion. His bodyguard walked on ahead, completely disregarding how his charge was subtly trying to slip in and quickly go straight up the stairs to his room. Adrien had just put his foot on the first step when the door to the atelier opened and Nathalie walked out into the entrance hall.

"Adrien." She addressed him coolly, "Your father would like a word."

Adrien felt like he was shrinking under her persistent poker face. He'd hoped he would be able to hide away in his room to try and buy more time for him to come up with something to say about what had happened at the school. Clearly though he wasn't going to be allowed that. He nervously tightened his grip on his school bag, reluctantly backing away from the stairs before trudging towards the open door of the atelier. Nathalie stood aside as he approached, saying nothing but keeping a watchful gaze on him as he shuffled through the doorway.

The atelier never seemed to change. Large and minimalist, the only furniture within was Nathalie's desk, a set of sofas around a low table and the standing desk complete with a touch screen that his father often worked at when not in his office. Adrien couldn’t help but grimace every time he entered as he was always immediately bombarded with far too many blown up images from his photoshoots. Seeing his face plastered everywhere like some gaudy wallpaper always left him feeling unnerved. The only image that wasn't a posed and airbrushed photoshoot was the golden portrait of his mother. It hung as a centre piece to the wall at the back, a beautiful, shining adornment amongst the black and white minimalism his father seemed to prefer. It was at this portrait that his father seemed to spend most of his time these days, and it was where he stood now.

Gabriel didn't even turn to acknowledge Adrien as he entered. Instead the man stood facing the portrait as he always did with his hands clasped firmly behind his back. Adrien quietly stepped into the room, nervously fidgeting with the strap of his schoolbag as he waited to be addressed.

“I was... _concerned_ today.” Gabriel said slowly, still facing the portrait, “You were asked to be involved today and yet you didn’t show up.”

Adrien swallowed thickly, his mouth suddenly going dry as he tried to speak, “About that, I was-”

“But then, there you were.” Gabriel continued, ignoring Adrien’s attempt to explain as he now turned to face him, “You were _with Ladybug_ as a civilian.”

Adrien’s words died in his throat as his father stalked towards him. Gabriel had always been the sort of man able to make anyone feel small through presence alone and Adrien was no different. He shrank back in his father’s shadow as the man now stood before him, his grey-blue eyes looking down on him with a steeled glare.

“We talked about this, Adrien. It is too dangerous for you to be around that girl. If she were to figure out who you were, she wouldn’t hesitate to expose you. She wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of you and manipulate you.”

Adrien nervously chewed his lip as he avoided his father’s measured gaze. He believed what Gabriel was telling him, but there was a small hesitation in him now. Ladybug had been kind to him. Even if that was only because she didn’t know he was her mortal enemy, he still hadn’t expected such a gentleness from her. He was so used to his anxieties being seen as a hindrance in his life. He was expected to go to another room where he couldn’t be seen by anyone should he have one of his ‘dramatic episodes’ as his father called them. Ladybug could have been the same. She was clearly a smart girl and probably could have figured out the Akuma’s puzzle on her own, but she stayed with Adrien the whole time until they’d gotten out. She’d even helped him through his spiraling instead of looking down on him for it. Would someone as cruel as his father believe her to be really take the time to do such a thing?

Adrien was still unable to meet his father’s gaze as he started to nervously spin his ring on his finger.

“Is...is she really that bad of a person?”

He felt more than saw the darkening of Gabriel’s expression for a brief moment. He winced as Gabriel’s hands firmly took a hold of both of his shoulders.

“You are still so naive. It is precisely because of that I worry about you, Adrien.” Gabriel said flatly as he squeezed Adrien’s shoulders, “You are like your mother in so many ways. I can understand you want to see the best in people, but you have to learn that the _good_ isn’t always there. There are people who exist who only want to take everything for themselves and will walk over anyone to get it.”

Adrien timidly lifted his gaze towards his father. He was still not able to meet his eye directly, but was at least able to look at him some.

“Is...is Ladybug one of those people?”

“Without a doubt.”

Adrien withered at his father’s iron certainty. Of course Ladybug was. She was the obstacle that prevented them from completing their goal and she had no issue with being so. No matter what she always stopped them. No matter what she would always fight them. His father had tried to reason with her before and she’d ignored him. Surely she wouldn’t listen to Chat Noir any better if he tried to speak to her. She probably wouldn’t even give him the time of day.

Gabriel’s hands fell away from Adrien’s shoulders, but one of them quickly took his right wrist instead. Adrien’s body seized up, but offered no resistance as his right hand was lifted for Gabriel to meticulously observe. He turned Adrien’s hand left and right, his eyes fixated on the ring as it’s smooth metal glinted in the light.

“Perhaps I was too hasty in letting you have a Miraculous of your own.” he mused, “In any other circumstance, your soft-hearted nature would be acceptable. But as things are I need your resolve to be much stronger than this. I can’t have you falter with so much at risk.”

Adrien removed his wrist from his father’s grip, protectively clutching his hand to his chest as his words fell out in a panicked rush, “I won’t falter! It...It was just a moment but I understand! It won’t happen again! I’ll do better!”

Gabriel gave a contemplative hum as his eyes scanning over Adrien, once more clasping his hands behind his back. Adrien tried to not tremble under his father’s stare, gripping his left hand tighter over his right in a weak attempt to try to make sure the ring stayed on his finger. His father didn’t know the full extent of how much the Miraculous meant to Adrien, but he preferred to keep it that way. The ring was his only key to being able to see the outside world as he wanted. Being Chat Noir and having Plagg as his companion and friend was far too important for him to lose.

“Very well.” Gabriel said eventually, his voice low and monotone, “Your power of Destruction is what will pave the way to our victory after all. I cannot do this alone, Adrien. I will need your help, so do not disappoint me again.”

Adrien nodded weakly in response. His father stared at him a moment longer before turning and walking back towards the portrait. Adrien knew that meant their conversation was over and his presence was no longer required. He carefully backed away before quickly leaving the room.

As Adrien was making his way across the entrance hall towards the staircase, Nathalie stopped him once again.

“Dinner will be served in half an hour.” she told him, “Please make sure you’re on time.”

Adrien stared at the floor as he awkwardly shuffled his feet, “Will Father be there?”

“Not tonight, no.”

“Then...can I just stay in my room? I’m not hungry and I would rather get through some school work. If that’s okay…”

Nathalie didn’t answer immediately. She glanced towards the closed door of the atelier as she appeared to properly consider his request.

“Very well.” she said eventually, “But you do know that snacking is not permitted. If you don’t have dinner, there won’t be anything until breakfast tomorrow.”

“I understand.”

“And I expect you to be working on your studies then.”

“I will.”

She paused a moment as her muted blue eyes searched him carefully, as though she were trying to appraise his honesty. She then stepped aside, signalling that Adrien was now allowed to proceed unhindered to his room. He still didn’t look up from the floor as he hastily went up the stairs two steps at a time before heading straight to his room.

Plagg flew out immediately as soon as Adrien quietly shut the door. The kwami didn’t need to hide while they were in the house, but he always seemed to prefer to stay out of sight anyway unless he and Adrien were alone.

“Your old man lies out of his teeth. You know that, right?” he grumbled as he headed straight for his cheese stash, “He’s not even the one who gave you the Miraculous.”

“So you say.” Adrien mumbled as he dropped down onto his bed, “But you still won't tell me who actually left it for me.”

Plagg momentarily paused digging around in the cupboard that held his cheese hoard as he gave his holder an uncharacteristically sympathetic look.

“You know I can’t tell you that. Kwamis have their own set of rules as a safety measure. There’s a lot I would tell you, but magic prevents it.”

Adrien gave a despondent hum in response as he rolled onto his side. Plagg had managed to tell him some things at least, either because Adrien had bribed him or because he found ways around the magic that would otherwise prevent him. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking, but it were things Adrien would have no idea of otherwise. Things like there were other Miraculous in existence, not just the Cat, the Butterfly and the Ladybug. There was also some other person involved that Plagg wasn’t allowed to speak about, someone who wasn’t his father or Ladybug.  
Adrien watched as Plagg hungrily devoured a wedge of camembert. How he was able to fit a piece the size of his head into his mouth was a complete mystery. As he watched the satisfied kwami purr contentedly to himself, he thought of something else he didn’t know about.

“Hey Plagg?”

The small cat gave a grunt of acknowledgement.

“Do you know Ladybug’s kwami?”

At this, Plagg turned to him with an unreadable look in his green eyes. He considered for a moment before floating towards Adrien and settling down on the bed next to him.

“Of course.” he said nonchalantly, “Sugarcube and I have practically always been in existence together.”

“Right, because you two are connected. Destruction against Creation, I know.” Adrien mumbled as he turned onto his back to stare at the ceiling, “...Is her name really _Sugarcube_?”

Plagg snorted, “No, I just call her that because it annoys her. Her name’s Tikki.”

“Tikki...What’s she like?”

“She’s a stickler for the rules, that’s for sure. She’s a know-it-all and a stick in the mud.”

“She doesn’t sound all that fun to be around.”

Plagg made a noise somewhere between a purr and a chuckle, “When she can be convinced to loosen up, she’s actually a lot of fun. And while she can be a little strict, it’s because she cares a whole lot. She’s real sweet on all her Bugs too.”

“Her Bugs? You mean like Ladybug?”

“Yup.”

Adrien hummed as he tried to imagine how Ladybug interacted with her kwami. Did they get along as well as he and Plagg did? Sure they got on each other’s nerves a lot, but Adrien considered Plagg an important friend and he believed Plagg felt the same way. If Tikki was as nice as Plagg said she was though, then how did she deal with having someone as two-faced as Ladybug for her holder? He hated to think of the kwami being a slave to Ladybug’s whims.

“Sounds like you miss her.” Adrien said quietly, “When we get the earrings, I’ll let you spend as much time as you want with Tikki then. I’m sure she misses you too.”

Plagg was silent for a moment before responding, “Sure, Kid.”

His answer sounded a little unsure, though Adrien couldn’t fathom why. Maybe he still needed to prove to Plagg too that he was a capable holder of the Black Cat Miraculous.

_I have to get better,_ he thought as he closed his eyes, _I can’t give up yet. I need to be better._

Adrien didn’t realise he had fallen asleep until he opened his eyes again and noticed his room was a lot darker. It had been early dusk when he had arrived there earlier, but now it was pitch black outside. Adrien slowly propped himself up on his elbows, his joints creaking stiffly from the awkward position he’d fallen asleep in on the edge of his bed. He looked down next to him to see Plagg dozing there, curled up in a little black ball the way a real cat would. He smiled at the adorable sight before standing up to stretch the cramped muscles of his back.  
The only light turned on in his room was his desk lamp, so he turned on the one by his bedside and the standing lamp near the piano. Even with the extra light, there was still something unsettling about how the long shadows cascaded over his excessively large room. Adrien paused a moment to look out the vast windows that lined one of the walls of his room. He could see the soft yellow city lights, but the sky was a dark canvas. It was a new moon tonight, so there were no soft, natural beams of light spilling into his room.  
Adrien’s spacing out ceased as his cramping stomach reminded him that he hadn’t eaten at all that evening. He chewed his lip as he hesitantly looked towards his door. He wasn’t permitted to eat outside of his set mealtimes, but there was normally some fruit kept in the kitchen. Surely an apple or a banana wouldn’t ruin the meal plan his dietician so meticulously set out for him. He lingered where he was a moment longer before heading over to the door. If he was quick then hopefully he wouldn’t get caught. He placed his hand on the door handle and attempted to turn it, but it refused to budge. Adrien stared in confusion for a moment before whipping his head round as a thought occurred to him. He stared at the digital alarm clock that sat on his bedside table. It was after eleven already. His bedroom door would have been locked for the night over two hours ago.  
Adrien sighed as he returned to sit on his bed. He could probably ask Plagg to open the door for him, but any and all motivation was gone. Getting the door unlocked then having to sneak down to the kitchen and back was too much effort to risk getting caught. He sighed as he rested his chin in his hand, once more returning to staring into space.

“You alright, Kid?” Plagg asked, apparently having woken up at some point without Adrien noticing.

“Yeah.” Adrien murmured.

He wasn’t that hungry anyway. He should just do some homework or practice some piano for a bit. Then he should try to go back to sleep for the rest of the night.

Plagg hummed, giving his holder a careful look before turning his gaze to the massive windows, “It’s a nice night outside.”

“I guess.”

“We could go out for a bit.”

Adrien lifted his head from his hand, looking to his kwami as he narrowed his eyes with suspicion, “You don’t normally want to go out. In fact, you try to avoid it.”

Plagg gave a shrug, “Well I just had a good nap. And we ended up not transforming earlier today so I think I could tolerate it for now.”

“...You’re sure?”

“Better take my generous offer before I change my mind.”

Adrien chuckled as Plagg gave a grumpy huff. He patted the kwami’s head and even though Plagg tried to look indignant about it, he still knew that Plagg secretly enjoyed the attention.

“Thanks Plagg. It’ll just be for a while.”

“Yeah yeah. What’s the magic words?”

“Plagg, claws out!”

* * *

Marinette sighed as she sunk deeper into her pile of blankets she accumulated on her deckchair, her breath coming out as a clouded mist in the cold night air. She liked sitting out on her balcony at night when she could have a peaceful moment to herself to just be there and do some drawing. Of course her affinity with the Ladybug Miraculous had made her hate the cold even more than she used to, so she had to bundle herself in thick sweaters and blankets on these cool winter nights. She was determined to not let it bother her though, as this was something she used to do all the time before getting her Miraculous. Whenever she felt stuck on her designs while sketching away in her room, sometimes the change of scenery her balcony provided was just what she needed to get going again. Especially when it was nighttime. She loved seeing the city lights glow around her and hear the distant hum of nightlife.

_Still_ , she thought forlornly as she looked at the blank sky above her, _I wish there was a moon tonight. You can’t even see the stars here normally either._

Her pencil paused over the page she was working on as she gazed at the blue-black sky. Her thoughts drifted back to all that had happened earlier that day.  
The Akuma hadn’t been too difficult to take care of. It had been a teacher that felt upset at how her students weren’t giving her respect, often not turning work in or just listening to her in general. A Lucky Charm of a stick of gum, along with an office fan and the endless length of her yo-yo chord, and the fight was over fairly quickly. But that wasn’t what Marinette’s thoughts kept turning too. She kept thinking about Adrien and how he’d been in front of her when she was Ladybug. She’d never expected to use some of the techniques she’d learned to deal with her own mess of anxieties to help someone else, let alone Adrien. She didn’t even know that Adrien _had_ anxiety.

“Tikki?” she gently called for her kwami’s attention, “Do you think I’m a bad friend for never noticing?”

Tikki poked her head out from the bundle of blankets, “What’s brought this on?”

“When we were stuck in the school Adrien got really upset. I’ve never seen him like that. I think he was even having a panic attack, or about to anyway.”

“And you helped him through it. Why would that make you a bad friend?”

“Because I never noticed before. I didn’t know Adrien dealt with something like that.”

Tikki hummed thoughtfully for a moment before responding, “But you can understand though, can’t you? You don’t tell anyone about the anxiety you deal with after all.”

“That’s because I literally can’t.” Marinette snorted, “I can’t really explain to people I freak out because while trying to manage a normal life, I’m having to moonlight as a superhero all the time as well.”

“Maybe Adrien feels he can’t tell people about his either. He might not be a superhero, but he has a lot going on too don’t you think?”

Marinette had to agree with Tikki’s point. Adrien seemed to never have any time to just relax or do anything for fun. He was bound to a tight schedule of school, photoshoots, sports, music as well as Chinese lessons. She didn’t know how he could keep up with everything without screaming. She knew if she even tried to do half of the things he did, Ladybug or not, she would have a full on breakdown. Her own life was jam packed with endless things to be done, but at least she’d learned to deal with it. Mostly. She had Tikki to help her through it, as well as her parents. Though they were busy with the bakery most of the time they tried their best to be supportive and understanding of their daughter. Even when she started having to take medication to try and help her deal with the panic attacks that started occurring more and more frequently and the seemingly ever-present anxiety, her parents did their best to remain reassuring.

Marinette sighed as she lazily scratched her pencil over the pages of her sketchbook.

_I hope Adrien has someone like that…_

She was just thinking of calling it a night and turning in when she heard a noise. It was soft and quiet, but it sounded a lot like footsteps. Marinette frowned to herself as she listened to the sound. It was distant but was quickly coming closer. It didn’t sound like it was coming from the street below, but from the stretch of rooftop behind her balcony.

_Probably just a cat on the roof again,_ she thought with a shrug as she closed over her sketchbook.

She began to gather up her hoard of blankets when the light steps ended in a startled thump behind her, like something coming to an abrupt stop.

“Huh?”

Marinette froze at the sound.

_…’huh?’ Cats don’t go ‘huh’..._

She slowly turned around to look over her shoulder at the wall at the back of her balcony. Leaning around the chimney stack there and staring at her with equally wide eyes was Chat Noir. His green, catlike eyes glowed in the dark as he looked at her while his chest faintly rose and fell as he lightly caught his breath from running. His tail gave a curious wave, as though he was both intrigued and baffled to find her there.  
Marinette stared at him. And screamed. Then promptly threw the nearest thing to hand right at his face.

Chat gave an alarmed yelp as he shielded himself from the flying object, allowing Marinette to hastily throw open her skylight hatch and dive into her room. She quickly closed and locked the hatch after her before shrinking back into the corner of her bed, staring at the window above her on high alert.

“What’s he doing here?” she hissed, “Please don’t tell me there’s _another_ akuma!”

Tikki wiggled out from where she had hidden herself in the collar of Marinette’s sweater, “I’m not sensing anything right now. Has there been an alert?”

Without taking her eyes off of the skylight, Marinette fumbled for her phone in her pocket. Once she’d gotten it into her hand, she only gave it the briefest glance to confirm that there was no alert before gluing her eyes back to the hatch again.

“No there’s nothing. _Oh god_ , what the hell is he doing? Is he just sitting up there to torment me? Oh no... _Has he figured out who I am?_ ”

“Marinette, calm down!” Tikki hushed her as she gently patted the girl’s cheek, “He hasn’t come after you, so I think this was just a mistake.”

“A-A mistake...Okay, a mistake...Do you think he’s gone?”

“I’m not sure. But I think you sent a pretty clear message when you threw your book at him.”

“I threw my…” Marinette murmured before shrieking, “I threw my _what_ now?!”

She replayed in her head the sequences of events from just moments before. Chat turned up and surprised her so she threw the nearest thing at him. The nearest thing that was already in her hands. Her sketchbook was in her hands.

Marinette curled into herself with a depressed groan. Of all the things to use as a weapon, it had to be one of her most precious possessions. Her sketchbook which contained numerous loose pages and notes with her drawings and designs. It was probably lying on the balcony in a disorganised mess now, or even worse - _the street_. There was no way she was going to get it all back. And that was if Chat Noir hadn’t Cataclysmed the thing out of spite.

“Stupid stupid _stupid_.” Marinette moaned to herself, digging the heels of her palms into the sides of her head.

A few minutes passed and there was no sign of Chat Noir breaking into her bedroom. She hadn’t seen or heard him at all in fact. Maybe the insufferable catboy had left. She really hoped he had. That way she could start picking up whatever she could of her sketchbook before a breeze could blow away most of the pages. As quietly as she could manage, she reached up to open the skylight. She lifted it up just enough for her to peak out, but as she looked around there was no trace of him.

_Good, he’s gone._

She pulled herself up onto the balcony and started to look around for any remnants of her sketchbook. But there was nothing. Not a page. Not a sticky note. _Nothing_ .  
Scrambling over her balcony, she checked the wall Chat Noir had been standing on but there was no sign of her sketchbook.

_Oh no...oh no oh no oh no!_

She almost threw herself heads over heels over the balcony railing as she tried to look down to the street below. Given that it was late at night, there were only the puddles of light from the street lamps illuminating the area so it was hard to see. But even as she scanned and searched, her eyes straining into the darkness up and down the street, she couldn’t see anything. It was gone. All of it was _gone_ .  
Tears started to well in her eyes. That sketchbook contained so much work, so many ideas in it and now it was just lost. Chat Noir must have destroyed it or run off with it. Either way it was gone and she would never get it back. So much time and hard work gone because she _stupidly_ threw it away. She sniffled quietly to herself, trying to not let her uneasy breaths go out of control as the tears started to fall.

The sound of boots landing on the railing on the other side of the balcony startled her.

“You know,” came his voice with an amused chuckle, “This isn’t what I was expecting when people said they wanted to throw the book at me.”

Marinette slowly turned around to see his lithe figure standing on the railing, perfectly balanced as though he were an actual cat. His green eyes glimmered with focus as he meticulously slotted in some loose pages into the book in his hands.

“My sketchbook…” she murmured.

“The pages went everywhere but I think I managed to get them all.” he grinned as he closed the book over.

His gaze flitted up to look at her, his eyes quickly growing wide in alarm as he no doubt saw the gross tears streaming down her face.

“O-Oh no, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to frighten you I, um….h-here!” he rushed out, crouching down on the railing as he awkwardly held out the sketchbook to her.

Marinette said nothing at first, her gaze darting between his uneasy smile and the book waiting in his outstretched hand. Hesitantly, she took a step. And then another. Chat waited patiently for her as she slowly inched her way towards him, before quickly snatching the sketchbook from him and promptly scooting all the way back to the other side of the balcony again. She was aware of him watching her, nervously rubbing the back of his neck as she hastily flicked through the pages of the book.

“This…” she murmured to herself.

It was all there. It was out of order now of course, but all of the loose pages and been neatly slipped back into the book.

“Your drawings are really good by the way.” Chat offered with a smile, “You must have worked hard on them.”

Marinette wrinkled her nose in annoyance, “You looked at them.”

“Forgive me, but they did end up in my face so I couldn’t _not_ look at them.”

“And you gave it back to me.”

It was his turn to look annoyed as he frowned at her, “People can say what they like about me, but I’m not a thief. Especially when it’s something so important to someone.”

_And yet you want to steal my earrings_ , she thought as she narrowed her eyes at him with suspicion.

“I meant it though.” Chat said as he gestured towards the sketchbook, “You’ve got some really good stuff there.”

Marinette tried to not let his compliment lessen her glare at him, “...Thanks.”

The pair continued to stare at each other in an uneasy standoff. Still keeping him in her sights, Marinette set the sketchbook down on the outdoor table to make sure she didn’t make the same mistake if she needed to throw something at him again. She cautiously glanced around them as well, trying to tell if this was some sort of strange trap.

“There’s no akuma, if that’s what you're thinking.” Chat told her softly, moving to sit down on the railing but leaving one of his knees up to rest his chin on.

“Oh really? Then why are you here?” she retorted.

“You really think I only come out when there’s an akuma?”

“I haven’t seen you otherwise.”

“...Fair point.”

Another strained silence fell between them for a beat.

“So...what _are_ you doing here?” Marinette asked suspiciously.

He shrugged in response, “I sometimes go running at night. Not to cause trouble or anything, just to...get out for a bit. What about you?”

“What about me?”

“It’s cold and the middle of the night. Why are you out here?”

“This is _my_ balcony I’ll have you know! The one who’s out of place here is you, you mangy cat!”

Chat Noir stared at her in surprise for a moment before letting out a burst of laughter. Marinette found herself blushing, suddenly feeling embarrassed at how easily amused he appeared to be at her outrage.

“W-What?” she demanded.

“There’s not many people who would speak to me like that.” Chat answered, his voice still shaking with laughter, “I think the only person who’s told me off like that is Ladybug.”

Marinette clamped her mouth shut as his glowing eyes settled on her again.

“You really are something.” he smirked.

Marinette could feel another embarrassed blush heating her cheeks, “Watch what you say or I might throw something at you again.”

“If you throw your book again, I’ll be keeping it this time.”

“I’ll throw _you_ off this balcony if you’re not careful.”

Chat gave another laugh, softer this time as he flashed her an amused grin.  
His grin quickly faltered though as a sudden rumbling noise occurred. Marinette stared in shock and disbelief.

“Was...was that your stomach?” she murmured as she slowly pointed at him.

She caught a brief look of the slight pink tint of his cheeks under his mask as he bashfully looked away.

He gave an awkward cough into his closed fist, “N-Nope! Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

His stomach growled again and Marinette had to purse her lips to stop herself from going into a fit of laughter. His face went a darker shade as he gave a flustered sigh.

“Right, well I’ve been here long enough.” he said quickly as he turned to leave, “I’ll uh, I’ll leave you to your...whatever you were doing. Sorry for interrupting.”

Marinette watched him take out his baton before suddenly finding herself moving across the balcony towards him.

“Wait!” she called to him, grabbing onto his tail just as he was about to jump away.

Evidently he hadn’t expected her to do such a thing, as he slipped in surprise. Marinette squeaked in alarm as he fell on the balcony's railing, his middle slamming right on top of the metal bar and thoroughly winding him. She winced as he pretty much folded in half over the railing with a pained wheeze.

“S-Sorry…” she whispered, delicately putting his tail down.

“S’fine.” he coughed, “That’s what I get for scaring you, I guess.”

Marinette stepped back as he slid off the railing and onto the floor of her balcony. He wrapped an arm around his middle as he knelt there, giving her a perplexed look.

“Are you okay?” she asked tentatively.

His eyes widened a moment as his cat ears gave a flick, but then his expression softened with a shyness she’d never seen on the overconfident boy before.

“Y-Yeah.” he answered as he nervously rubbed his neck, “The suit prevents most damage, so something like that is nothing.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Did...Did you want something?”

He was looking at her with confusion again. Right, she had something in mind before she turned him into the human equivalent of a collapsible chair. She pressed her lips together as she looked back to the small outdoor table. There was a plate on it with a few cookies she had set out earlier for Tikki to have while Marinette went about her drawing. She went and grabbed the plate before turning back to him. Sitting down near him, she offered out the plate.

“Here.” she mumbled, “As thanks...for giving my sketchbook back.”

Chat’s eyes looked back and forth between her and the plate. He didn’t say anything as he sat there, his cat ears laying flat against his head as though he was expecting the plate to be thrown at him this time.

“I promise they’re not poisoned.” she scoffed as she picked up one of the cookies, “Just take it.”

She pretty much shoved the cookie into his hand, making him look increasingly bewildered by the gesture.

“...Thanks.” he murmured, looking almost awed as he stared at the snack in his hands.

Marinette stared at him a moment before slapping another cookie into his palm. He turned to her in shock before giving a soft laugh

“I’ll take these and go.” he said as he stood up, “I’ve disturbed you enough.”

“Oh, sure.” Marinette replied quietly, standing up with him.

She looked once more at his gentle expression. Had Chat Noir always been like this? He almost seemed... _normal._ And _nice._ Not like the overblown braggart and flirt she was used to dealing with.

“Well then, little lady.” Chat Noir winked at her as he jumped up onto the railing, “I know you must be _feline_ sad to see me go, but I’ll have to say good night.”

Marinette grimaced at his smug smirk.

_Oh, yup. There he is. The dumbass cat I’m used to._

He took out his baton again and extended it, offering her a quick two fingered salute before vaulting away. Marinette frowned to herself as she watched him go. Her eyes followed his silhouette as he left, but he quickly vanished into the night and could be seen no more.  
She stood there for a few minutes, staring at where she’d seen him disappear.

“Marinette?” Tikki asked quietly as she peeked out again from her sweater, “Are you okay?”

Marinette didn’t answer for a few moments until she gave an annoyed huff.

“He’s such an insufferable weirdo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginnings of some MariChat! Had a lot of fun with this chapter.  
>  ~~And also Gabriel straight up lying the whole time~~
> 
> Thank you for the comments and kudos people have left! I hope you all continue to enjoy this fic <3
> 
> [Selkie on Tumblr](https://heartfulselkie.tumblr.com/)


	4. If I Could Understand The World You See

“No way, your dad just changed his mind?” Nino groaned, “That’s so unfair dude.”

Adrien shrugged, “He didn’t change his mind exactly. It’s just there’s a charity event tonight and I need to go in his place.”

“Dude, that’s so not cool. He already said you could come to the movies with us.”

“Sorry. Maybe next time.”

Marinette watched as Nino gave Adrien a comforting pat on the back. They’d been planning on the four of them going to the cinema that evening to see a new superhero film Alya had been raving about. They’d all been so excited when they arrived at school that morning, talking through when they’d meet up and what snacks they’d get to share. Marinette had been excited too, as Alya had guaranteed to make sure Adrien would sit next to her. There was also the fact that you're not normally expected to talk during films, but once they are over they provide good material to use in conversation. Alya and Nino would likely pair off, so that left Adrien and Marinette to be a combined third wheel. Which she was _more_ than fine with. As long as she didn’t embarrass herself. Although history had proven that if they weren’t careful, Nino and Adrien would end up being the pair glued together while leaving Alya and Marinette feeling like the tagalongs.  
But it seemed all of her mental preparation for that evening had been for nought. As soon as school finished, Adrien received a call that he was to return home immediately. For whatever reason Gabriel would no longer be attending an event he was expected to be at, so that left Adrien to take his place.

The four of them walked down the stone steps outside the front of the school as they talked. Adrien’s bodyguard was already waiting by the car for him as a reminder that he was on a time constraint. Marinette lagged behind the group a little as she tried to control her disappointment. Adrien was the one who should be upset by all of this, but he appeared to have already accepted the change in plans.

“We can try to go another time?” Alya offered.

Adrien gave a wry smile, “I’m not sure when I’ll get the time again. Don’t worry about it. You guys can go ahead without me.”

“You sure dude?” Nino asked as he gave Adrien’s shoulder a friendly bump.

“Really it’s fine. I’m not allowed movie junk food anyway. I’ll see you tomorrow, so you can let me know if it’s worth seeing or not.”

Adrien gave them a smile and a wave as he quickly made his way over to the waiting car. The three of them watched as he got in before the sedan quickly pulled away.

“I guess we still go then.” Alya murmured, “He’ll feel bad if we don’t.”

Nino sighed, taking off his cap to run a hand through his hair, “This sucks. He never gets to do anything fun. I wonder what was so important that his dad had to ditch?”

“Running a fashion empire is probably a lot of work, right Marinette?”

Marinette looked up when Alya addressed her, having only half paid attention to the conversation. She gave a vague hum as she nodded, her mind still too preoccupied to give a more coherent answer.

“You’re still coming tonight, right?” Nino asked softly as he looked at Marinette’s dulled expression.

“You should, girl.” Alya added with a smile, “I know we’re not Prince Sunshine, but you should hang out with us once in a while you know.”

“Yeah, it was a shame you suddenly got so sick last time.”

“And the time before that you got stuck in a tree while trying to get a cat out of it.”

Marinette grimaced as her friends reminded her of her watery excuses she’d used before. It was getting harder to come up with any sort of excuse when she had somewhere to be but was then interrupted because of an Akuma attack. Her friends had a point though. She’d skipped out on their past few hangouts because of _reasons_. Those reasons of course being Akumas, but she obviously couldn’t let them know that. At least her friends were just accepting of her flaky behaviour now, even expecting it mostly. It was somewhat of an inside joke now that it was simply impossible for Marinette to be on time for anything.

“Y-Yeah.” Marinette said sheepishly, “I’m still up for going tonight. I’m really not just going to drop our plans just because Adrien’s not going.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” Alya gave a sly grin, “If he needed a date for this event tonight, I’m sure you’d be tossing us aside as you pray that he’d take you.”

“Did...did he say something about needing a date?”

“Chill girl, I’m just teasing. You know he never takes anyone for those things.”

Marinette nodded slowly, feeling an embarrassed blush filling her cheeks as her gaze dropped to the ground. She should have known Alya was just joking.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a nervous blur for Marinette. She was desperately hoping that this evening she would be allowed to meet up with her friends and be a normal teenager and have a normal time. It had been over a week since the last Akuma, and also since the last time she’d seen Chat Noir. That chance encounter had been the very alarming yet baffling one on her balcony. Why the stupid cat was even there in the first place she still had yet to figure out. He’d mentioned something about “going running at night”, which was a little vague and concerning. Had he been scouting or something? It had made her wonder if she needed to increase her own patrols. But her primary worry was that her enemies had been quiet since then. It wasn’t unheard of for there to be long breaks between Akumas, but with each passing day it put her more and more on edge. It was always a matter of time and she hated not knowing how much time she had left before the next one popped up. Her anxiety and paranoia followed her persistently like a dead weight, dragging her down through her everyday life as she watched and waited for the next attack.  
So when a child ran by screaming she couldn’t stop her flinching reaction as she frantically searched for the danger.

“Woah girl, you okay?” Alya asked with concern, gently touching Marinette’s hand across the table they sat at.

“O-Oh yeah, I’m good.” Marinette murmured.

She watched the small child run around her parents, squealing and giggling happily as she chased her older sister. It was just another false alarm. Marinette felt a little silly for her reaction. It was busy at the cinema, but she really didn’t need to jump at every loud noise. She’d met Alya and Nino prior to the movie starting, and the three of them were now just waiting for when they were allowed in. They sat at a table in the cinema’s lobby, trying their best not to eat their way through their popcorn until they actually got to their seats for the film.

“Oh hey.” Nino grinned as he looked at his phone, “Adrien sent something on the group chat.”

Alya already had her phone out, quickly bringing up the group chat the four of them shared.

“Ooooh you’re right.” she smirked, turning her gaze to Marinette as she wiggled her eyebrows, “He sent it to the group, but I think it’s for you Marinette.”

Marinette tried to ignore the smug look her friends were giving her as she hesitantly took out her phone. On it’s lockscreen she could see the notification that Adrien had indeed sent something to the chat. Nervously chewing her lip, she swiped across the screen to open the messenger to see what it was.

**_Adrien: I thought Marinette might like to see what some of the people are wearing here._ **

**_Adrien: [Image File][Image File][Image File]_ **

**_Adrien: Hope you guys enjoy the movie!_ **

Marinette stared in amazement at the photos. She vaguely recognised the decor in the background as that of _Le Grand Paris_. It was probably one of their large conference or ballroom spaces that were used for such elaborate events. There were numerous people walking around, all dressed up in suits and dresses in a spectrum of colours and cuts. She quickly zoomed in on one of the photos to inspect further one woman’s dress that was a gorgeous ivory with a very subtle pattern that you could only see when the light hit it.

 _I wonder what Adrien’s wearing…_ she thought dreamily.

Unfortunately as he was the one taking the photos, there was no way to see what his clothing was.  
As if reading her mind, Marinette’s phone buzzed as another message was posted to the chat.

**_Alya: Marinette wants to know what you’re wearing._ **

Marinette slammed her phone down on the table with a shriek, “ _Alya!!_ ”

Alya looked up from her phone, innocently pursing her lips, “What? I know you want to know, but are too awkward to ask yourself.”

“Well, _yes_ but - but did you have to make it sound _dirty?”_

“Oh please. I doubt Adrien will take it as anything other than innocent.”

Marinette squeaked as her phone buzzed again, indicating another message had been posted on the chat.

“He responded.” Nino hummed as he read the message, “‘ _Not exactly the scene for selfies, but I’ll see what I can do_ ’ he says.”

“See?” Alya grinned, “No problem.”

“Well look at the time!” Marinette stated loudly, “The movie is going to start soon so we should go to our seats. Yup! Let’s go!”

She grabbed her phone off the table with more force than necessary before proceeding to march ahead towards the back of the cinema where the screens were.

Her phone didn’t alert her to any further posts to the group chat, so she tried to put it out of her mind. As the trio were taking their seats in the auditorium however, she felt her phone buzz again. She glanced at Alya and Nino next to her, but neither seemed to have noticed if they’d received a message. The pair were too busy arguing with each other in a teasing way about what was the fair split for their popcorn. So far it sounded like Alya was winning at a 70-30 split, but it was clear that it was just banter between the two and they didn’t actually care about being equal with the popcorn.  
Marinette subtly looked back to her phone. She held her hand a little over the screen to try and cover some of the light glowing from it as she checked to see what she’d received. Her heart started thumping in her chest when she saw that it wasn’t something on the group chat, but a direct message sent to her. Adrien had sent something just to _her_ .  
Quickly checking that Alya and Nino were still distracted, Marinette hesitantly opened the message to see what it was.

**_Adrien: Little awkward sending a photo of just myself to the group, but I’ll send it to you._ **

**_Adrien: [Image File]_ **

Her heart leapt into her throat. Her fingers were shaking as she opened the picture to properly see what he had sent her. As the image filled her screen, her eyes wandered fondly over it. The picture mostly showed his upper chest and didn’t show much of his face beyond the shape of his jaw a slight modelesque smile. Obviously it had been a photo focused more on his suit, as she could see the way the charcoal suit jacket was perfectly tailored to fit the shape of his shoulders and chest. Underneath he appeared to be wearing a white dress shirt as well as a tie in a slightly darker shade of grey and done in a perfect windsor knot. She didn’t need to ask to know the suit was one from the Gabriel brand, as that was what Adrien always wore. Her eyes slowly scanned over the picture again as she wished she could see him wearing it in person.  
Sighing to herself she set about trying to send him a response. After having accidentally ignored him the last time he messaged her, she was determined to answer him this time. After a few minutes, she fumbled her way through something to send him.

**_Marinette: Good_ **

**_Marinette: I mean it looks good. Nice._ **

She groaned to herself as she pressed her forehead to her phone. Even in text she made herself sound like a complete moron.

“What’s up?” Alya asked, making Marinette jump in alarm.

“J-Just making sure my phone is on silent!” she laughed awkwardly as she hastily shoved her phone into her purse, almost hitting Tikki in the process.

She winced as she glanced down and saw the kwami’s deadpan expression staring back at her.

Alya nodded with a knowing smile, “Sure.”

Marinette sank back into her seat, hoping the dim light of the auditorium would hide the embarrassed tint of her cheeks.  
  


Superhero films didn’t capture Marinette’s interest in the same way they used to. Since becoming one herself, she couldn’t help but view them differently. She still enjoyed them for the most part, but she hated the large scale fight scenes that would result in half a city being destroyed. It made her so relieved to have her Miraculous Ladybug ability, as she dreaded to think of how much damage Paris would have suffered if she hadn’t been able to fix things after each Akuma attack. Her friends seemed to be enjoying it all though, so she tried to hide her grimace as she watched another building fall apart while the hero fought his nemesis in their climatic battle.

“That was so cool!” Alya squealed as they were leaving the cinema, “When he took up his father’s hero mantle and turned their old hangout into a superhero lair! Do you think Ladybug has somewhere like that?”

“A Ladybug lair?” Nino chuckled, “Probably not. But a Bugmobile might be pretty cool.”

“No way, that’s totally pointless since she gets around with her yo-yo.”

“A utility belt might be nice though.” Marinette added with a sigh.

Fighting by herself all the time, it sometimes felt like her yo-yo wasn’t enough. Having a belt holding secret gadgets or tricks would be nice. Maybe holder for a water spray bottle she could use against Chat Noir. She couldn’t help but smirk to herself at the thought.  
The three of them stepped out into the night air, wrapping their coats tighter around them against the winter cold. Nino quickly took to wrapping an arm around Alya, gently rubbing her arm for warmth. Alya huddled into him at the touch, hunching her shoulders up to her ears and she mumbled angrily about the freezing weather.

“I wonder if it’ll snow soon.” Nino mused as he looked up towards the night sky.

“Ugh, I hope not.” Alya frowned, “It’s hard enough following Ladybug when she’s taking down Akumas as is. I don’t need to worry about slipping around on ice and snow while I’m filming.”

Marinette hummed in agreement. She didn’t like the idea of sliding around on frozen rooftops herself during fights. And also because the current cold temperatures were already enough to make her want to hibernate for the next couple of months.

“Well, I told my parents I’d head home when the movie was done.” Alya sighed, “And if I don’t turn up at home soon they'll send Nora to find me.”

“And it’ll be me she comes for first.” Nino chuckled.

Marinette smiled at her friends, “Yeah, my parents want me home too since it’s a school night. I’ll see you guys tomorrow?”

Nino adjusted his cap as he looked towards her, “Do you want us to walk with you?”

“No, don’t worry about it. You don’t need to go out of your way for me.”

Alya arched an eyebrow at her friend, “You sure? We don’t mind.”

“Really, it’s fine. It’s not that far for me to go anyway.”

“Well, okay then. See you tomorrow.”

Marinette waved goodbye to the pair before turning and walking down the street. She was only partly lying. Her parents were expecting her home, but she still had a little over an hour until her set curfew. Since she wasn’t running a risk of getting in trouble just yet, there was something else she wanted to do. She managed to enjoy the movie just fine with her friends without interruption, but she still felt overly nervous and restless. She opened her purse, carefully making sure there was no one close enough to hear or see what she was doing.

“Tikki? Would it be okay if we went for a run? Just a short patrol for a little while.”

Tikki peeked out of the purse as she offered her holder an understanding smile, “Of course Marinette.”

It wasn’t long before she was transformed and swinging over the Parisian rooftops. The fast paced movement and view from above helped to soothe her anxiety some. She couldn’t really tire herself out much by just running around as Ladybug, but the effort still helped a little. The night was quiet though, so there was little to draw her attention as she parkoured her way over the skyline.

She hadn’t meant to go the direction she did, she just went whatever way she wanted without really thinking about it. So when she found herself swinging up onto a building that faced the back of _Le Grand Paris_ she had to stop in surprise. She paused there for a moment, looking down to the ground floor where she could make out the glowing light from the ballroom that was hosting that night’s charity event.  
 _I wonder what he’s doing…_ she thought as she settled down on the edge of the rooftop.

He was probably shaking hands with other various well-to-do people, enjoying sophisticated conversation and sampling some gourmet food. She rested her head in her hands as she stared at the large glass windows of the ballroom. Just outside the ballroom was a large, stone patio that overlooked the gardens at the back of the hotel. There was a grand stone staircase curving down along the edge of the patio for people to access the gardens below. During the warmer seasons, the patio was usually covered in dining tables for guests to enjoy. But as it was winter it had been left empty. Which was why she stared in confusion when she saw someone slip out from one of the glass-fronted doors of the ballroom and hastily make their way across the patio.  
She watched the person slow down a little as they went down the steps, effectively putting themselves out of view from the ballroom and everyone inside. Slowly taking in the blonde hair and grey suit, she thought for a moment she was daydreaming again.

_Adrien?_

She watched him as he remained at the bottom of the steps, occasionally leaning on the stone wall beside him or shuffling his feet as he stood there. Her eyes flitted towards the windows of the ballroom, but it didn’t appear that anyone had noticed that he’d gone outside. As she observed him she recalled how he’d been the last time she’d seen him as Ladybug. The memory of Adrien being overcome with anxiety started to make her worry. She turned it over in her mind a few times before coming to a decision.

 _I’m just going to check if he’s okay_ , she told herself, _Just a quick hello and then I’m gone._

He didn’t appear to notice her at first as she swung down into the hotel’s garden. His back was turned to where she landed and he seemed to be preoccupied with something.

“I know it’s cold.” Adrien hissed quietly, “Just a few minutes okay? Then I’ll go back inside.”

“Um, h-hello.” Ladybug said stiffly, trying her best to not look like she had wooden legs as she approached him.

Adrien whirled round immediately, his hand flying over his breast pocket as he stared at her in alarm.

“You, uh-” his voice cracked with surprise, “Ladybug?”

She winced as he seemed to back away from her, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

“N-No I uhm...I just didn’t expect to see you. Here. You’re here.”

“I was just passing by and happened to see you, so I just wanted to check you were okay.” she explained awkwardly, “You know, superhero making sure civilians are good and all that.”

Adrien gave her a curious look as he tugged on the cuffs of his suit jacket, bringing her attention to just how _good_ he looked right now. The photo he’d sent her really didn’t do enough justice. The suit fitted him perfectly, showing off his slim yet athletic build while also accentuating the broadness of his shoulders. The charcoal colour was also flattering next to his fair skin and blond hair, as well as making his vibrant green eyes shine all the more brighter. Green eyes that nervously looked back up the steps towards the ballroom.

“I’m okay.” he said without looking back at her, “You really didn’t need to come check on me.”

Ladybug nervously chewed her lip, “Well, you’re standing out here in the freezing cold.”

“So are you.”

“I’m the one with a magic suit here. The cold doesn’t really bother me.”

Adrien stared at her in surprise for a moment before letting out a soft laugh, “Yeah, I guess so.”

Ladybug glanced towards the hotel where she could faintly hear the buzzing sounds of people talking and laughing together. From where they stood, no one would see them there down in the garden. Even if someone were to come to the top of the steps, they would only see Adrien as she stood opposite him and around a corner from the steps.

“Do you not like crowds?” she asked as her gaze returned to him.

Adrien grimaced as he rubbed the back of his neck, “Something like that.”

Her mind again returned to their last encounter when they’d been trapped in the school. For whatever reason, Adrien had gone through a bad reaction and almost spiralled into a panic attack. She wondered if his behaviour then and how he was acting now was related, but she thought better than to ask him about it.

“I’m not a fan of them either.” she tried to sound casual to break the uneasy tension between them, “People always getting in your space and wanting to talk to you about things you don’t know how to respond to.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow, “You’ve been to stuff like this?”

“A few times. I’ve attended some public holiday events as Ladybug.”

“Oh, right.”

“And there’s always people who want to shake my hand but it’s so awkward most of the time.”

He stared at her before offering a tired smile, “Yeah, I’ve been there. And when you let go of their hand they still hold on like the handshake isn’t over.”

“Oh my god, _I know_! And it’s so awkward like - ‘I don’t know you, please let go of me’.”

“Or the people who are complete strangers and come up to you like you’re already best friends.”

“Yes! I mean, I don’t want to be rude or anything but it’s a little creepy and I’d like to tell them to shove off.”

They stared at each other for a moment before they grinned, sharing a quiet, awkward laugh over their similar social experiences. Ladybug’s heart thrummed with warmth in her chest, her shyness trying to edge its way back in as she looked at him. She thought she knew Adrien very well, but this was a piece of him she’d never seen before. A sarcastic, humorous side that seemed incredibly bored of extravagant social gatherings.

Nervously averting her gaze, she forced herself to keep the conversation going, “Well, at least you get to eat fancy food at things like this right?”

He was quiet for a moment before letting out an unsatisfied huff, “Not for me. I’m not even allowed to look at the buffet table. Cause I might just _absorb_ the calories through my eyes.”

“What? You’re seriously not allowed to eat?”

“I have a diet plan in place for modeling, so I’m not allowed to go off it.” he looked away with a shrug, but the smile he gave seemed almost sad, “It takes work to be perfect.”

Ladybug’s eyes fell to the ground. Perfect. She hated that word. It had been applied to her far more times than she could count now. _Ladybug! Paris’s perfect hero!_ She knew that the public meant well when they said things like that, but all that had done was left her on a very lonely pedestal. As she slowly lifted her gaze to Adrien again she found herself wondering, was he in a similar situation?

“I get it.” she said softly as she turned to rest her back against the wall next to her.

Adrien shoved his hands in his pockets, tilting his head as he looked at her again, “Get what?”

“It’s hard. Always having to watch your step, watch what you say...always being careful because you don’t know who’s watching and what they might do if they see the wrong thing.”

Her eyes were focused on the ground by her feet, but she could feel his verdant gaze watching her carefully as though he were considering every single word she said.

A silence settled between them for a time as they stood there, the only clear movement from them being their warm clouds of breath in the cold night air. For the first time since she arrived, Adrien took a tentative step towards her.

“Then why do you do it?” he asked softly, “Can’t you just...stop being Ladybug?”

Ladybug snorted as she rolled her eyes, “And who would I give the earrings to? Hawk Moth and Chat Noir? Yeah right.”

His expression appeared conflicted for a moment before he answered her, “Would that be so bad?”

“Of course it is!” she snapped before restraining herself, “I mean, I don’t even know what they want my Miraculous for. But it can’t be good.”

“You...you don’t know why? Did Hawk Moth never say anything?”

Ladybug furrowed her brow as she turned to look at him again. He was taking a very odd line of questioning, but she couldn’t see Adrien meaning any harm by it.

“No.” she admitted, “All I know is that he wants my Miraculous. He already has the Black Cat, so I can’t let him have mine. Together they...actually, nevermind.”

Adrien looked almost defeated as his shoulders dropped. His gaze fell to the ground where it stayed.

“What if they have a good reason for wanting it?” he whispered.

“Does it really matter what the reason is?” Ladybug retorted, “They’ve been nothing but chaos and terror for years now, and for what? Their own selfish gain?”

“Y-Yeah. It...It’s pretty selfish of them.”

As she saw Adrien’s almost ashamed expression, she suddenly felt bad for throwing the bitterness she had for Hawk Moth and Chat Noir at him. Adrien hadn’t done anything to deserve her anger. He’d only asked some innocent questions because he didn’t know her as Ladybug.

“I have no intention of giving it up though.” she said softly, “Being Ladybug.”

“...You don’t?”

“No. I made a promise to the city after all. That I’d protect them and make sure Hawk Moth and Chat Noir see justice for all that they’ve done.”

Adrien’s nervous expression quickly melted away then, his eyes widening with awe, “Yeah, I remember that speech you made. It was pretty cool.”

Ladybug gave an awkward laugh as she snapped her gaze to the ground again. It felt like a lifetime ago when she had floundered her way into being a superhero before announcing her promise to protect Paris from the likes of Hawk Moth. Keeping her head turned down, she really hoped that it was too dark outside for him to really see the blush that was now blooming in her cheeks.

“Y-Yeah well, I keep my promises.” she said before adding with a gentle smile, “And even though it’s hard, I’m proud to be Ladybug. Even if I have to keep fighting alone, I’m determined to see this through.”

When she lifted her gaze again, she was struck by the almost shimmering glow of his eyes as he stared at her. It made her heart stop in her chest as she felt herself melting under his astonished gaze. He was looking at her like she had said something completely revolutionary. But the amazement in his expression faded as he instead started to look more uncertain and almost afraid. He started to spin the ring on his finger as he took a careful step back.

“What is it?” she asked nervously, “Did I say something weird?”

“No.” he answered quietly, “What you said sounded...pretty good actually. I just…”

He trailed off, his voice going silent as his gaze slipped away from her. Ladybug moved herself off the wall she was leaning on as her eyes searched him with concern. Adrien was chewing his bottom lip as he appeared to be thinking something over. She was about to ask him about it when another voice called out.

“Adrien? Are you out here?”

Adrien’s head immediately snapped towards the top of the steps, his flickering eyes looking in the direction of the ballroom.

“Nathalie…” he murmured.

Ladybug peeked around the corner to look up the steps also, “Your dad’s assistant?”

She squeaked as she suddenly found Adrien’s hands on her shoulders, gently but firmly pushing her back behind the wall.

“She can’t see you!” Adrien whispered desperately, “Don’t let her see you!”

Ladybug’s voice had ceased to function entirely as all she could focus on was the feeling of his hands holding her. Her eyes were completely and hopelessly fixed on his too, lost in his startled gaze as he searched for her reaction. All she could give him was a clumsy, wordless nod as she shrank back around the corner, completely out of sight from the steps and patio once more. Adrien released her then, slowly backing away as he turned to face the top of the staircase.

“Adrien.” she recognised Nathalie’s cool tone from somewhere at the top of the steps, “There you are. You’re here on behalf of your father, so pulling one of your disappearing acts will not be tolerated.”

“Sorry.” he grimaced, “I just needed some air.”

“I’ll not mention it this time, but you need to come back inside now. There are people who want to speak with you.”

“Yes, I’m coming now.”

Adrien’s attention was still fixed towards the patio above them as he started to climb up the steps again. Ladybug watched him from the shadows as he left her line of sight, hesitating for a few moments before peeking around the corner again. At the same moment she leaned around the corner just a little, Adrien paused at the top of the stairs to look back. Her heart jumped into her throat, her heartbeat pounding loud in her ears as bluebell eyes met summer green ones. His quiet expression was unreadable to her as he gazed back, his eyes seeming to almost glow in the low light as they flickered over her. It could have only lasted a second or two, but for her heart it felt like an eternity as it continued to race harder. It was as though her heart was trying to break out of her chest and throw itself into his hands then and there.  
But then the moment ended as Adrien turned away. He rolled his shoulders as he adjusted his suit jacket before calmly walking away to return once more to the crowd. Shrinking back out of sight again, Ladybug placed a hand over her chest to try and contain her somersaulting heart once more. A slow smile lit up in her face as she thought over the conversation they’d just had. She’d talked to him! She’d managed to hold an actual conversation with him without mixing her speech and word vomiting herself into unforgivable embarrassment. Giggling herself, she allowed herself a small celebratory fist pump before taking out her yo-yo. Her previous restlessness and anxiety had for now been replaced with an excitable warmth. As she took to the sky to head home, she allowed herself to hope that tonight she would be able to sleep soundly with dreams of soft green eyes instead of enduring her anxiety-fueled insomnia.

* * *

Adrien was exhausted by the time he finally got home that night. He barely had the energy to stay standing long enough to take a brief shower before allowing himself to drop down onto his bed. His head hurt and he just wanted to sleep for a whole week. Maybe two.  
He didn’t really mind going to social events, but what he really hated was getting caged into endless conversations that just seemed to loop constantly. Different people but always the same subject. No, his father wouldn’t be attending and sent his apologies. Yes, he and his father are doing well. Yes, the next fashion line is looking good. No, he didn’t have a girlfriend. No, that didn’t mean he wanted to meet your daughter/granddaughter/niece/sister/cousin-twice-removed. Of course Adrien always had to be careful how he said all of this. Everything had to be done with a polite smile and mild-mannered words. Even though the people around him didn’t really give a damn about Adrien as a person he still had to show the utmost respect, otherwise it would reflect badly on his father and the brand. They only saw the scion of a major fashion empire, a child who was only trying to fill his father’s shoes in his absence. So all the conversations Adrien had to go through on repeat were surface level at best, and condescending and vain at worst.  
It was meant to be a charity event for medical research, but most of the people attending were more concerned about discussing their newest yachts and cars, their extravagants vacations in exotic locations, or their newest partner in a long line of already failed marriages. Adrien had to smile through it all, despite feeling so out of place there. He felt like he was one of the few, maybe the _only_ , person in attendance that genuinely cared about the progress of research aimed at helping people with debilitating illnesses. He was pretty sure that was why his father was such a large contributor to such charities as well. Perhaps maybe someday, someone would make a breakthrough that would mean something to them and all that they hoped for.  
It had gotten too much though. All of the noise, the vapid chatter, the feeling that he was rooted to the spot as an endless sea of people kept surrounding him. As soon as Nathalie was distracted for a moment, he seized the opportunity to slip away. Even though Plagg had made his complaint known about how freezing it was outside, Adrien didn’t care. He needed space. He needed quiet. He needed _to breathe_. Though that was quickly thrown aside when Ladybug of all people showed up.

Adrien rolled onto his side, curling up on his bed as he recalled their conversation. He tried to keep his distance, to look for a moment when he could just quietly excuse himself and leave. But she had given him the most normal and casual exchange of words he’d had all evening. He’d found himself letting his guard down some in her presence again, which he was now once more scolding himself for. But there was something about Ladybug that made her easy to talk to. It was almost like she was familiar somehow. There was no need for dishonest pleasantries as they quickly fell into sharing complaints that they actually had in common. While he didn’t really express it at the time, he really understood the difficulties she divulged to him. He understood it very well himself. Being perfect was...a lot.

Plagg settled atop Adrien’s head, licking his paws after having stuffed himself full of camembert. When he heard his holder sigh for the umpteemth time, he finally decided to ask.

“You doing okay, Kid?”

Adrien scratched his nails over his bedsheets in a weak attempt to help fill the silent void that echoed within his room. Even when he and Plagg spoke, his room always still fell too empty and too quiet.

“Do you think she was lying?” Adrien whispered.

“Lying? Who?”

“Ladybug. For a moment it was like...like we had an understanding or something. Maybe I said too much to her. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“What difference does it make?” Plagg grumbled, “It’s not like you were talking to her as Chat Noir.”

“But if...if I say something I shouldn't then she might use it against me. She already knows I’m not the poster boy the brand paints me as. She saw me freaking out before, and tonight she heard me complaining! What if she tries to blackmail me or something?”

“No offense Kid, but I think she’s got other things on her mind than black mailing a civilian.”

Adrien let out an aggravated groan as he pressed his face into his pillow as he replayed his conversation with the girl again in his head. If his father had known what they had talked about he would be _furious_. And they’d been so close to being found out too. Nathalie had almost seen them together. If she had, then how would he have explained it?

Plagg started to knead his little paws into Adrien’s hair as he curled up there, “You think too much.”

“What else am I supposed to do?” Adrien answered, his words half muffled by the pillow squished against his face.

Plagg didn’t answer, but Adrien wasn’t really expecting one. He wasn’t really sure what the kwami could possibly say that would help ease the heavy cloud hanging over him. Adrien was conflicted when he shouldn’t be. He and his father had an objective, a wish that they wanted fulfilled. Ladybug was the obstacle that prevented it. He should hate her. He should want her _gone_. But instead he was amazed and intrigued by her. She had been fighting alone all this time but showed no sign of giving it up. She was actually _proud_ of what she was doing. Adrien on the other hand...did he feel any pride? He loved being Chat Noir, sure. But he loved it more when it was just him on his nightly runs, free to roam as he wanted out of sight from everyone with nothing to stop him. But in this eternal conflict he’d found himself in, was there any pride in that?  
Images of all the various Akuma victims flashed in his mind. Some had been no more than children. Some had been his _friends_. His father assured them there was a purpose to it all, that this was an unfortunate means to an end they both wanted so much. But to be proud of that...how could he be? It was all he could do to not feel _sick_ sometimes. What he was though was jealous. He was jealous that Ladybug got to have a sense of justice in what she did, no matter whether she was right or wrong, a good or bad person. All Adrien had was selfishness.  
Maybe his father was right. Maybe Adrien was too weak hearted to be involved in this fight. But he was too selfish to give it up. He didn’t want to lose his Miraculous or Plagg. He didn’t want to lose his mother any more than he already had either. Her presence lingered like a ghost, always there but still so far out of reach. Wrong or not, he couldn’t bring himself to give up. Either Ladybug didn’t understand their objective, or his father had lied about trying to talk things out with her. Everything around him was so confusing and he was losing faith in what he had perceived to be right and wrong all this time.

“I don’t know…” Adrien murmured, curling up further as he waited for sleep to take him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some soft ladrien bonding for these two anxious messes ❤️
> 
> Thank you so much for the comments and kudos! I appreciate every single ones you guys leave. You're all awesome!
> 
> [Selkie on Tumblr](https://heartfulselkie.tumblr.com/)


	5. An Endless Road Remains

It seemed Hawk Moth was done with his Akuma break. Marinette had been in her last class of the day when the alert went off, so she had to make hasty bathroom excuses as she quickly scooted out of the room. At this rate people probably thought she had problems with the amount of times she’d fallen back on that weak excuse whenever her brain failed to provide anything else. It was frustrating though, as skipping out on class meant there would be work for her to catch up on. Which would be piled on top of her already growing pile of homework. As well as the list of things she wanted to get done before winter break. She prided herself on making hand crafted gifts for her friends and family for Christmas, and she wasn’t about to stop that now. So what if she only slept a few minimal hours each night? And really if it weren’t for her parents insisting on family dinners whenever they could as well as Tikki scolding her all the time, Marinette would probably forget to eat more often than she already did too. As long as she stayed on top of things and got stuff done then it was all fine, ignoring the occasional times she would break down crying of course. But that was just how she worked through it all now. 

Ladybug stifled a yawn as she continued to track down the Akuma. It was leaving a very noticeable trail of something similar to bright pink bubblegum. Globs of it were everywhere. Anything that had come in contact with the sticky substances seemed to be stuck to it permanently, people included. It was looking like this would be a tricky one to deal with if she wasn’t careful.  
Swinging through the streets, she eventually caught up with Hawk Moth’s latest victim. It appeared to be a girl, not much younger than Ladybug herself. Her long hair was a soft pastel pink, held back by a large ribboned headband and flowed around her shoulders in bouncy waves. She was wearing a soft layered dress in varying shades of pink. In her hand was a pistol which Ladybug observed firing a bubblegum projectile at some unfortunate passerby.

“Let’s see how you like it!” the girl shouted as the poor man she fired at ended up stuck to a nearby wall and encased in the sticky gum.

“Hey now!” Ladybug chastised when she saw the girl looking for another person to fire at, “What did these people ever do to you?”

The girl locked eyes on Ladybug with a glare, “What does it matter? I’m sure they're no different!”

“Let’s just talk about whatever it is that’s bothering you. Maybe I can help.”

“All you need to know is my name’s Troublegum. And you can help by giving me those earrings!”

“Always with the earrings.” Ladybug rolled her eyes as she started swinging her yo-yo.

“What can I say, Bugaboo? We’re _purr_ ty determined.”

Ladybug resisted the urge to groan as she looked over her shoulder to see Chat Noir standing there. He greeted her with his usual crooked smirk and quick salute as he rested his baton across his shoulders.

“Maybe you should turn in the cat ears for a clown costume, it’d suit you better.” Ladybug jeered.

“ _Meowch_! Someone’s in a bad mood.”

“Only since you showed up.”

“ _Ugh!_ You are both annoying!” Troublegum shouted with a stomp of her foot, “Just get out of my way!”

The girl lifted her gun and immediately fired it, sending forth a squishy pink projectile hurtling in their direction. Ladybug quickly dove to the side to avoid it, leaving it heading straight for Chat Noir behind her instead.

Chat yelped as he quickly ducked away, “Hey watch it! I’m on your side!”

“As if I care.” Troublegum snorted, “You look like the sort that would be laughing along with them! Laughing it all up over some stupid _prank_! Yeah, real funny sticking gum in my hair and making me have to get it all cut off! _So funny!_ ”

Again she raised her gun and fired a series of quick rounds, the bubblegum bullets rocketing their way to both Ladybug and Chat Noir. The pair of them jumped to opposite sides, rolling away from the attack as the area became increasingly covered in pink globs.

Chat at least had the decency to look offended, “As if I would ever find something like that funny!”

Ladybug attempted to make use of the Akuma being distracted by Chat to try and flank her. She didn’t particularly want to end up covered in bubblegum herself, so Ladybug set her sights on Troublegum’s weapon. If she could get it away from the Akuma, then the fight would be as good as over and she could set about finding the butterfly. But Troublegum noticed her all too quickly. She whirled in Ladybug’s direction, aiming her gun and ready to fire. Ladybug threw out her yo-yo in an attempt to get away but there was the sound of footfall rapidly approaching her. As soon as Ladybug tried to take off, Chat Noir collided with her at the same time Troublegum fired.

Ladybug let out a grunt as she hit the ground, which quickly turned to a growl as she felt Chat’s weight land on top of her. She quickly shoved him off before he could collect himself, only to find that when he rolled away she was tugged with him.

_Oh...Oh please no._

She slowly looked to her shoulder, frustration and disbelief surging within her as she saw the bright pink glob there. And stuck in it was Chat’s left hand. Chat looked at their attachment as well, looking both bewildered and amused by it. He quickly reached out with his still free right hand towards her ear.

“Don’t touch me!” Ladybug shouted as she slapped his hand away.

“I’m afraid I can’t do much about that, My Lady.” he chuckled as he nodded to the bubblegum that had bonded them together.

He tried to make another swipe at her earrings, so Ladybug planted her palm to his face and forcefully pushed him back. Unfortunately she couldn’t push him far since his hand was still glued to her shoulder, but he was left blindly flailing for her as she kept her hand pressed to his face.  
Since he wasn’t able to just grab her earrings outright, Chat reached for his baton instead and attempted to attack her with it. They were already at an awkward angle from the way they were attached to each other, but Ladybug managed to avoid his weapon as he swung it at her. When he tried to use it to sweep her legs out from under her, Ladybug spun harshly to pull him off balance at the same time she struck out with her leg. Her foot slammed against his hand and sent the baton spinning away into the air before landing a fair distance away with a clatter.

“I’ll leave the earrings to you then.” Troublegum laughed, “I’ll go have my fun elsewhere.”

“Wait!” Ladybug called out as the Akuma quickly leapt away, taking herself off across the buildings.

Ladybug went to follow, using her enhanced strength to pull Chat’s weight with her since she couldn’t do much to discard him right now. She needed to get to the Akuma and purify them so she could give Chat a proper stomping _without_ him being glued to her. She quickly cast off her yo-yo, pulling back on it when she felt it catch.

“W-Wait a minute!” Chat said sheepishly behind her, digging his heels into the ground as she started to move forward.

“Buckle up, Kitty!”

Chat let out a yowl as they rocketed upwards. It was awkward at first to be carrying the extra weight of another person, especially when they were barely hanging on and flailing about. But she quickly got used to it, building a strong momentum with the added weight to swing faster and harder as she propelled herself over the buildings. Chat scrambled to get a better hold of her so that he wasn’t just dangling by his hand at her shoulder. He eventually managed to maneuver himself onto her back, wrapping his usable arm around her as he clung on for dear life. Ladybug’s heartbeat accelerated until it was pounding against her ribs as she felt his chest flush against her back and his breath ghosting over her neck. She was probably just excited from the adrenaline coursing through her now from the thrill of the chase, and her cheeks were likely burning because of the exertion she was having to use too.

Ladybug was able to catch up to Troublegum quickly enough. The Akuma saw Ladybug coming and immediately took off again, sneering over her shoulder as she sped away. Ladybug didn’t give up her pursuit though, even with Chat Noir still awkwardly clinging to her like a frantic kitten. She chased Troublegum all the way to the Eiffel Tower where the Akuma started to quickly jump up the monument.

“You’re so annoying!” Troublegum shouted back, “Just leave me alone! I’m not doing anything wrong!”

“Just because you’ve been bullied doesn’t mean you can turn that on someone else!” Ladybug yelled back as she quickly followed.

Chat let out a strained yelp as she swung up through the iron beams of the tower, weaving in and out of the structure as they went higher and higher. Evidently her gravity defying method of travel was a lot more than what he was used to, as she swore she could feel him hiding against the back of her shoulder more than once as they were soaring through the air.

Troublegum finally stopped on the highest observation deck of the tower, glaring at them since Ladybug was showing no signs of giving up. Ladybug landed on the platform, ignoring how Chat Noir wobbled next to her as he tried to compose himself again.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Ladybug said calmly.

“Too bad.” Troublegum scowled as she readied her gun again.

Ladybug spun as the gun fired another projectile. Her sudden movement pulled Chat with her unwillingly until he blocked the bubblegum, the globular bullet hitting him square in the back.

“Oh come on.” Chat grimaced as he looked at the pink mess now coating the back of his suit.

“I finally found a use for you, Kitty.” Ladybug smirked as she pulled Chat again to shield herself from another attack from Troublegum.

Chat dug his heels in and tried to pull in the opposite direction, his strength overcoming hers this time as Ladybug got hit in her other shoulder.

“Do you _have_ to go against everything I do?” Ladybug hissed, tackling him to the ground to avoid completely this time another flying bullet.

He gave a casual shrug, “I happen to be a very independent cat.”

“I hope the next one glues your mouth shut.”

“You’re _kitten_ right? You love my jokes!”

Ladybug let out an aggravated sigh as she bolted to her feet again, quickly maneuvering to avoid another onslaught of bullets from Troublegum. Dodging alone was proving difficult with Chat weighing her down and constantly trying to move in another direction from her, so making any attempt to subdue the Akuma was impossible right now.

“Look,” Ladybug hissed when Chat almost tripped her up for the fifth time, “I know you hate me, but would it kill you to just work with me for _one minute_? Or do you want to stay stuck like this forever?”

Chat’s green eyes flitted towards her with quiet hesitation.

“I don’t hate you…” he mumbled, barely loud enough for her to even hear.

Whether he was being honest or not didn’t really matter. Just the fact that he had said it was enough to catch Ladybug off guard. She stared at him in confusion, his own eyes growing wide as though surprised by what he’d said himself.

“While it’s fun watching you two dance around each other like a pair of monkeys, I have other people whose day I want to ruin.” Troublegum scoffed.

Ladybug snapped her eyes back onto the Akuma to see she had her gun aimed at them once more. But this time it wasn’t firing immediately. A pink mass was congealing like the end of the barrel like the gun was charging up an attack. Ladybug gasped as she attempted to leap away. Chat Noir must have realised that a bigger attack was coming as well as he also moved, but once more pulled in the opposite direction from Ladybug. The bubblegum that was already attaching the pair snapped them back together as it was impossible for them to move apart. The jarring movement of their opposing motions caused them to stumble just at Troublegum fired. The huge bubblegum mass slammed into them, hurtling them back into the railing of the observation deck. They moved with such force that the railing broke as they crashed into it and sent them careening off the edge of the platform.

They fell a short distance before coming to a lurching halt. Working through the surge of dizziness, Ladybug quickly looked around to make sense of the situation that they were now in. Most of her body was covered up to her neck in the bubblegum substance, leaving her hands and yo-yo firmly incapacitated. Chat Noir seemed to be in a similar state too, hopelessly glued to her back with no way to try and separate himself from her. Above them the fencing of the deck had broken apart, but some of the bubblegum they were encased in had also attached to the railing. It was the only thing preventing them from dropping off the Eiffel Tower completely.

Troublegum chuckled as she stepped up to the edge of the platform, “Sorry to leave you both hanging, but I’d like to have some more fun before this is all over. I’ll come back for the earrings later.”

“Didn’t Hawk Moth say you weren’t meant to work _with_ me, not _against_ me?” Chat yelled back.

“He might have said something. I don’t really remember. Don’t care either. He was only specific about the earrings.”

Chat went quiet then, but Ladybug didn’t really take much notice of it.

Ladybug strained against the bubblegum bindings as she shouted, “You want my Miraculous but you’re just going to leave?”

Troublegum gave a satisfied smirk as she shrugged, “I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere anytime soon.”

With that the Akuma disappeared as she moved back from the edge, leaving Ladybug and Chat Noir restrained and suspended from the platform.

As best she could, Ladybug started going through whatever options she could think of. There had to be something she could do. There had to be a way for her to get out of this. She was _not_ going to go out like this, gift wrapped for Hawk Moth in bubblegum with Chat Noir literally piggybacking on her.  
She yelped as the pair of them suddenly dropped a further short distance again. Frantically looking above her, she could see the broken piece of railing they were attached to was bending further under their combined weight. The sticky bubblegum mess was holding them tight to it, but at this rate the fence itself would fail and leave them falling all the way down the Eiffel Tower. She struggled again to try and loosen her hand that still held her yo-yo but it was no use. Her whole right arm was completely stuck in the pink goo, hand and yo-yo included.  
She paused, annoyance quickly seething in her as she felt something at her ear.

“Would you _stop_ that?”

She could only see his childish grin out of the corner of her eye as she glared daggers at him over her shoulder. Chat wiggled his fingers at her, brushing against her ear again. But as his hand was hopelessly stuck to her shoulder he wasn’t getting very far.

“You know, the Akuma will go away if you just let me have your earrings.” he offered, “No akuma, no sticky situation.”

“Okay firstly, no. And secondly, why would I believe you?”

“Because I am a very honest cat?”

“You? Honest? Don’t make me laugh.”

Chat gave a pout as he pretended to look hurt, “ _Honesty_ is my middle name I’ll have you know.”

Ladybug snorted, “I thought you told me _Catsanova_ was your middle name.”

“I happen to have a lot of middle names.”

“Yeah. _Sure_ you do.”

The pair of them flinched as again the fencing above them groaned.

“Okay, new plan” Ladybug said quickly as she stared at the weakening railing, “You still have your Cataclysm right? Use it to break the bubblegum.”

Chat slowly sucked in air through his teeth, “Yeeeeah I’m not going to do that.”

“And why not?”

“Because the only thing that’s stopping me from falling is being attached to you, My Lady.”

“Just use your baton when we’re free like you always do.”

“You mean my baton you kicked out of my hand earlier? Excellent form by the way. I can tell you’ve been practicing.”

“Flattery gets you nowhere, Kitty. And if you won’t use your Cataclysm to free us, then I guess we can just both fall to our deaths.”

His cat ears flattened against his head at her words. He craned his neck to the side as he looked at the drop beneath them.

He nervously cleared his throat, “The uh, the suits will protect us right?”

Ladybug shrugged, at least as much as the goo encasing her would allow, “I’m not sure. I’ve never tested dropping from such a height before without some way to break the fall.”

“O-Oh…”

“Hey, cats always land on their feet right? So be sure to do the gentlemanly thing and break my fall for me.”

Despite her words, Ladybug was trying to figure out some way to not end up a splat mark on the ground below. Without being able to use her yo-yo properly though, she was coming up empty.

“ _Fine._ ” Chat grumbled.

Ladybug looked over her shoulder at him in confusion, “Fine?”

His ears drooped as his gaze slipped to the side. He looked almost ashamed, his lips pressing into a thin line for a moment before he elaborated.

“I’ll use my Cataclysm.”

“...Seriously?”

“On one condition.”

“If it's my earrings it’s still a no.”

Chat let out an aggravated sigh as he rolled his eyes, “No, not that. Just...when you’re doing your flying thing with your yo-yo, don’t...don’t leave me to fall.”

Ladybug stared at him with quiet shock, though he still refused to meet her eye. Did he seriously think that she would just let him drop out of the sky with no way of knowing if he’d survive the fall or not? Sure she’d thrown him halfway across the city before and punched him in the face more than once, but she’d only ever aimed to incapacitate him during their fights. It never even occurred to her to try and _kill_ him, either with her direct or indirect actions. He was her enemy and he was annoying - _god_ , he could be annoying - but she would never wish for his _death_.

“Alright, Chat.” she said softly, “I promise. As soon as we’re free I’ll catch you.”

His green eyes lifted towards her, uncertain and searching as though he were trying to find any hint of a lie within her words.

They both let out a gasp as they sharply dropped another foot or so. Ladybug looked up at the railing above them, barely hanging on now and groaning deeply as the metal continued to bend until almost breaking completely. Frantically she looked back to Chat behind her who stared back at her with equal alarm. His eyes flickered as though processing a million thoughts in that split second, until he squeezed them shut and took a deep breath.

“... _Cataclysm._ ”

Ladybug felt the bubblegum around them start to disintegrate. The Cataclysm spread swiftly and suddenly they were released. With her arm now free, Ladybug immediately cast out her yo-yo to the nearest beam of the tower. Trusting her yo-yo would catch successfully, she turned to reach out behind her as they started to fall. Chat reached back but it was already too late. They’d separated faster than she anticipated, leaving only her fingers to slip through his as he plummeted.

* * *

Chat Noir saw her throw out her yo-yo at the same time she looked over her shoulder at him. He felt her fingers graze against his but it wasn’t enough to grab a hold of. He was falling. He was tumbling down in a sickening tailspin with no way to correct himself or break the fall. This was it. After everything, this was the way that he would go out. _Cat Doesn’t Land On Feet_ will be all over the news headlines. Would Ladybug’s Miraculous ability bring him back after she was done fighting? What if she had control over how it worked and decided she didn’t want to bring him back? Could he really blame her if that was the case? Either way, it didn’t matter. He was falling hard and fast. In a matter of seconds he would hit the ground.

Chat suddenly came to a lurching stop. The air was forced out of his lungs and it felt like if he’d eaten anything more than a few bites of his lunch earlier, then that would have promptly been brought back up too. His head spun from the abrupt end to his descent, leaving him to limply hang from whatever was holding him around his waist. Through his dizzied vision he could see the ground coming towards him, a lot more slow and gentle now that the spiralling terror from just a moment ago. He weakly lifted his head to see Ladybug next to him now with her arm firmly holding him around his middle. She was holding her yo-yo string with her other hand, using it to lower them in an easy, controlled descent.

“You okay there, Kitty?” Ladybug asked as she gently set him on the ground.

His legs felt weak and buckled immediately, but Ladybug still held onto him. She eased him down gently, kneeling next to him when he came to rest on his hands and knees.

He gave her a crooked smirk as he croaked, “You caught me.”

Ladybug frowned, looking away from him as she chewed her lip, “I said I would.”

He was still shaking, but as always he turned to teasing to try and cover himself.

His grin widened, “You fell for me.”

Ladybug’s gaze snapped back to him, her mouth falling open in outrage, “You stupid cat! Do you ever stop flirting for _one_ second?”

Chat chuckled as he sat back on his heels. He was starting to feel steadier again as the shock faded. Ladybug rolled her eyes, either ignoring or not having noticed how shaken he’d actually been. But it was becoming more and more apparent to him. She’d kept her promise. She didn’t have to, she could have just let him fall and gone straight after the Akuma instead. And even after catching him she didn’t just drop him and leave once he wasn’t in danger.  
Chat lowered his gaze as he tried to sift through the conflicting thoughts and feelings swirling inside him again. How was he supposed to react to all this? What was he meant to do now?

“Right, well. I have an Akuma to catch.” Ladybug clipped as she started to spin her yo-yo, “So just be a good Kitty and stay out of my way.”

Chat watched her for a moment, calling out to her before even realising what he was doing.

“Ladybug, wait.”

She turned to him, arching an eyebrow with mild annoyance. She said nothing in response, only waited expectantly for him to say something further. Chat nervously licked his lips. This was a bad idea. This was exactly the kind of thing he _wasn’t_ meant to do. If he did this and his father or Nathalie found out, he couldn’t even imagine what sort of punishment he would receive. And yet he was going to do it anyway.

Chat tackled Ladybug to the ground. She had been wary of him, but he’d surprised her enough that he was able to hold her down with his weight. She struggled against him so he quickly grabbed her wrists and pinned them down.

“You...You _jerk_!” she shouted, “After all that you’re still only after the earrings!”

Chat sighed, “Ladybug-”

She promptly spat in his face. He grimaced at her volatile response. It really didn’t take much for her to assume the worst of him. His gaze flickered towards his ring as it sounded out its timer with a series of shrill beeps.

“Well, Chat?” Ladybug said through gritted teeth, “You only have a few minutes. You really want to fight it out?”

Chat leaned down towards her until his lips almost touched her ear. Ladybug made her disgust obvious as she strained her neck to try and move away from him. He could tell from the way she was moving under him that she was preparing to retaliate.

“The Akuma’s in her hairband.” he whispered quickly before she could throw him off.

Ladybug froze then. He leaned away again to meet her gaze, her eyes narrowing at him with disbelief and suspicion.

“And...thank you.” he added quietly.

He held her gaze a moment longer before his ring beeped again. She was still looking at him in confusion but he didn’t wait to hear her answer if she had any. He quickly released her wrists and rolled off of her. He didn’t stop as he got to his feet and started to sprint away.

Chat’s heart pounded in his chest as he ran. That was a mistake. That was a _huge_ mistake. He just gave Ladybug easy information on what possession of the akumatised person she needed to aim for. She would likely have figured it out herself eventually and he only saved her a few minutes by doing so, but he still _helped_ her. Then there was also the fact that he used his Cataclysm at _her command_ . The only orders he was meant to follow were Hawk Moth’s. His father’s. If anyone found out that he not only listened to Ladybug but _assisted_ her, he would be in grave trouble.

He slipped into an empty alleyway, crouching down out of sight just as his transformation released. Adrien hugged his knees to his chest, burying his face against them as he started to shake. He tried to take deep, steady breaths, but all he could manage were stuttered shaky ones.

“Hey, Kid.” he heard Plagg’s low voice somewhere near his ear, “You want to tell me what just happened?”

“I messed up. I _really_ messed up.” Adrien croaked, pressing his face further against his knees.

“What? Just cause you exchanged a few words with Ladybug?”

Adrien snapped his head up to face his kwami, the mix of shame and fear obvious in his expression as he spoke, “I _helped_ her, Plagg. I’m not meant to help her. I’m meant to fight her!”

“And why are you so hellbent on fighting her?” Plagg hissed.

“Because that’s what I’m supposed to do!”

“Says who?”

“ _My father!_ ”

Adrien stared at his kwami as he tried to regain control over his uneven breaths that ached and shivered in his lungs. Plagg gazed back at him with an unreadable look, making Adrien shift uncomfortably as the overwhelming sense of guilt burnt a hole inside of him.

“Here.” he murmured as he took out the piece of camembert he had on hand, “Eat up. We need to get back out there.”

Adrien turned his focus back to trying to calm himself while the kwami ate. He methodically counted out his breathing as he waited for the sinking feeling of dread to subside. It already felt like his father was there, looming over him with his steel-eyed gaze staring down at him. The anger and disappointment was almost palpable from the vision his terror was projecting. He was so intent on trying to compose himself he momentarily forgot where he actually was.

It startled him when Plagg spoke again, “You know, you’re allowed to think for yourself and make your own decisions. You can’t just keep following whatever someone else says all the time.”

Adrien sniffled as he rubbed at his eyes, “But...But what if I’m wrong and I make everything worse?”

“Mistakes happen. That’s just how you learn. Maybe you learn enough to know how to fix it. But what do I know? I’m just a kwami.”

Adrien watched as Plagg gulped down the last piece of his cheese. The little cat was looking as indignant as always, but Adrien was familiar with him enough now that he could tell when Plagg was being sincere.

“Thanks, Plagg.” Adrien smiled softly as he gently cupped his hand around the kwami’s small body.

Plagg grumbled from the affection but made no effort to move away.

“Yeah, yeah. If you’re ready then let’s get going.”

“Right…” Adrien responded weakly as he forced himself to stand up once more, “Plagg, claws out!”

Taking on his transformation once more, he was relieved to find that his baton had returned to its rightful place at his belt. This made travel so much easier, as Chat Noir quickly propelled himself up towards the rooftops. He didn't know how Ladybug could cope with throwing herself around with her yo-yo. The constant push and pull of gravity had been more than just uncomfortable and had left Chat incredibly grateful that he had his own method of getting around. He took to running over the buildings, keeping an eye out for any signs of Ladybug or the Akuma as he headed back in the direction of the Eiffel Tower.  
He hadn’t gotten very far though when he saw the surge of red ladybugs cascading over the sky. He slid to a stop on the building he was on, watching the wash of magic as it cleared away all of the bubblegum mess that had been left behind. The ladybugs whirled by him, sending forth a warm wave of creation and healing.  
He stayed where he was a bit longer, even after they’d disappeared. He could understand why they needed the Ladybug Miraculous. The immense power it possessed was a rival to his own, and combined they formed something even more immeasurable. The power to wish. He honestly didn’t know if it was possible to save his mother from whatever had happened to her. But his father firmly believed that this ability to have any wish granted would.

Chat Noir sighed to himself as he tried to figure out what to do now. He was about to turn around and leave when he saw a flash of colour vaulting over the rooftops opposite him. He froze when he saw her, while Ladybug also came to a grinding halt at the sight of him. They stared at each other from across the skyline, watching carefully for what the other might do. Ladybug was already in a fighting stance, ready to either take him on or try to escape. Chat knew her Miraculous timer would already be counting down now though after using her power. It was only a matter of time before her transformation dropped. He could chase her or keep her locked in combat until then, as he held the advantage of not losing his mask anytime soon. But he couldn’t bring himself to move.  
He’d chased after her countless times following their battles. He’d made endless attempts to try and follow her home or catch her when her transformation dropped, but she always managed to give him the slip. He was already exhausted and the thought of running after her in what would likely be another pointless chase was less than appealing. He wasn’t really interested in getting into a fight right now either since Ladybug had already used her Miraculous Cure. Any injuries either of them sustained now wouldn't be healed, and the last time that happened he was left with painful bruises. He was still a little shaken from his fall off the Eiffel Tower earlier, so he didn’t think he’d put up much of a fight anyway. So he just stood there instead, finding himself silently admiring her silhouette in the shrinking dusk light around them.

He slowly lowered his gaze as he withheld a sigh from himself. Maybe he was just tired of all the fighting in general. He didn’t really know. He knew what he wanted but the lines were becoming blurred. Perhaps Plagg was right and it was time he started to try and figure things out for himself.  
Chat turned away a little, pretending to look off in another direction from Ladybug. He could still see her in the corner of his eyes as she hesitated. He continued to act as though he didn’t see her at all, until her Miraculous running out of time must have urged her to move. There was a sound of her yo-yo cutting through the air and she set off running. When he tentatively turned to look back, she was already gone.

Allowing a small smile to himself, Chat turned off in the other direction to head home.

“How _dare_ you let her get away!”

Adrien flinched as the folders that had been sitting on his father’s desk were violently swept to the floor. They exploded on impact, sending pages everywhere in a flurry. He’d been called to his father’s office as soon as he returned. He had tried his best to make himself resilient to whatever reaction was coming his way, but now that Adrien stood there under his father’s glare he could only feel his resolve crumbling. Nathalie stood as a silent presence behind him, effectively blocking the door and only escape route.

“My Miraculous was about to time out…” Adrien explained weakly, “She was already done with the Akuma by the time I got back.”

“So you chase after her!” Gabriel snapped as he slammed his fist down on the large wooden desk, the only barrier that stood between him and Adrien right now.

“Or better yet,” Gabriel continued, “Don’t use your power to set her free in the first place!”

“But I was trapped too!” Adrien shamefully set his gaze on the floor as he tried to force out his words, “We were just hanging there...It was so high up and we were about to fall so I...I...Your Akuma shouldn’t have attacked me in the first place anyway!”

“My Akuma…? Are you suggesting there was something wrong with the pawn I chose?”

“I-I’m just saying that sometimes...sometimes they’re not always the most helpful…”

Gabriel’s expression darkened as he straightened himself, letting his hands clasp behind his back as they usually did. Adrien shivered under his father’s steeled glare, swallowing thickly as he tried to ease the tightness in his throat.

“Perhaps _you_ would make a more... _helpful_ Akuma then.” Gabriel said, his tone laced with frosted venom.

Adrien’s eyes widened at the words but he still didn’t look at his father. His heart hammered painfully in his chest with panicked fear as he saw his father’s shadow come towards him.

There was a quick sound of heels moving across the room as Nathalie approached.

“I think what Adrien means to say is that maybe we should be more selective in who is chosen to be akumatised.” she smoothly interjected, “We’ve had better success with some over others in the past.”

Gabriel was silent for a moment before letting out a long, steady exhale. Adrien still didn't dare meet his father’s eye. He didn’t dare _move_.

“Or perhaps we don’t be selective.” Gabriel mused, “If we can keep up a continuous influx of akumatisations, then Ladybug will be run ragged. At some point she will have to slip up.”

Adrien trembled as he heard his father approach him. He still kept his head lowered, swallowing back a whimper when he saw the man’s shoes standing in front of him. Adrien flinched when a heavy hand gripped his shoulder.

“I am very disappointed in you, Adrien.” Gabriel’s voice was cutting and low, “But I will allow you a chance to redeem yourself. For now I want you to avoid fighting and focus on tracking Ladybug instead. After every fight you _will_ follow her. Find her when her Miraculous is about to lose its charge or find out where she lives, who she knows - _something_ of use. Don’t let her out of your sight.”

Unable to offer any verbal response, Adrien could only stiffly nod his head.

Gabriel gripped his shoulder tighter, “I know this is difficult. What we do...I also find it hard sometimes. But just remember _who_ we are doing it for. Your mother would be so proud of you, Adrien. So make sure you don’t fail her.”

Adrien remained frozen and wordless. His father slowly released him before calmly walking away again. It wasn’t until Nathalie’s arm came around Adrien’s shoulder and guided him towards the door that he finally moved.

He followed Nathalie in silence as they walked along the corridor having now left Gabriel’s office. They came to a stop at the top of the grand staircase in the entrance hall.

“You can go to your room now.” She told him calmly, “I’ll have your evening meal sent up when it’s ready.”

Adrien tried to hide his grimace. He knew Nathalie was trying to do something nice by letting him eat in his room, something his father wouldn’t ever hear of, but he felt too nauseated to even think of food.

“U-Uhm, I’m not really…” he stammered quietly.

Nathalie let out a quiet sigh, “Adrien.”

He winced at the sound of his name before hesitantly lifting his gaze to look at her. Nathalie had her usual neutral expression, but there was a softness in her eyes as she appraised him.

“The chef has noticed that you have been refusing meals on occasion lately.” she continued, “Nothing has been said so far, but your father will notice eventually. You have a meal plan set out for you, so please try to stick to it.”

Adrien pressed his lips together into a nervous line before giving a slow nod. Nathalie stepped aside then, allowing him to proceed to his room alone.

“And Adrien,” she added, making him pause though he didn’t turn to face her, “Your father meant what he said. Emilie would be proud of you.”

Adrien didn’t answer. He kept looking away as he unsteadily forced himself to start walking back to his room again. He should be happy that everyone was telling him that his mother would be pleased with him. He was doing this all for her after all. Even so, that didn’t stop the sickening feeling that was burning in the pit of his stomach and coiling around his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some LadyNoir to enjoy this time ~~just ignore the surrounding stress and anxiety~~  
>  Looks like I'll be writing Gabriel as an absolutely awful person in this fic too
> 
> Thanks as always for the comments and kudos everyone's been leaving! I really appreciate it <3
> 
> [Selkie on Tumblr](https://heartfulselkie.tumblr.com/)


	6. Fake Your Way Through, You're Okay

Something had changed. Hawk Moth must have been losing patience, as the Akuma rate had dramatically increased over the past two weeks. There was no pattern to it either. Sometimes Marinette would have to sneak out of class to go take one down, and then other times she was having to abandon a good night’s sleep and spend a couple hours going after an Akuma instead. Marinette was _exhausted_ . Her teachers and parents had already given her stern words multiple times now about her tardiness, her disorganisation or her falling asleep where she shouldn’t be. Her parents had even forbidden her from hanging out with her friends for the time being, not that Marinette had the time or energy to be social anyway. She had no idea when the next Akuma would appear, but for now it always seemed to be _soon_.

The constant streams of Akumas weren’t the only thing though. Something had changed with Chat Noir too. He’d become more distant now, never engaging in the fight unless forced and never saying a word to her. This shift behaviour was only made all the more confusing after their recent encounter where he’d actually been _helpful_ . She was sure that she would have beaten Troublegum eventually, but Chat had saved her some valuable time then when he told her where the butterfly was hiding. And not only that, when presented with an opportunity to chase her afterwards he let her go. Whatever had possessed him to act in such a way had evidently gone out the window now. Instead of taking part in the battle he was now _hunting_ her. He would chase her after the Akumatised person had been purified, obviously trying to catch her when her transformation dropped or to find out where she might live. They’d gotten into a few scraps because of it, but so far she’d managed to give him the slip. But she didn’t know how much longer her luck would last.

“Still grounded?” Alya asked, offering a sympathetic smile as the pair of them walked home after school.

Marinette let out a heavy sigh, “Yup. My parents say I’m banned from leaving the house apart from school until I get my act together.”

She trudged along slowly, trying to ignore the pounding headache that had been plaguing her recently. The cold weather only seemed to aggravate it further, so she bunched up her scarf around her neck until it was almost covering her ears.

Alya kept to Marinette’s meandering pace, linking their arms together as though to keep the other girl walking, “I hate that we can’t hang out, but they have a point. Recently you’ve been even more of a mess than usual.”

Marinette resisted the urge to glare at her friend, settling for a huffy pout instead. She knew Alya meant well and was only concerned, but Marinette still didn’t like it when people pointed out that maybe she wasn’t handling things as well as she would have liked. She was getting along just fine. Master Fu certainly seemed to think so, since he _still_ refused to allow there to be another Miraculous user. One that would actually be her ally this time. Tikki, ever the voice of reason, had tried to explain to Marinette that the old man was already concerned that one of the two missing Miraculous had fallen into the wrong hands. And then to follow that, the Chat Noir he _chose_ went rogue. Putting another Miraculous into circulation just seemed like a dangerous gamble now, even though Marinette could see plenty of potential candidates around her.

“You doing okay?” Alya asked gently, bringing Marinette out of her haze of stewing frustration.

“Yeah.” Marinette mumbled, “Just busy time of year is all.”

“You been taking on commission work?”

“Something like that.”

Alya arched her eyebrow with an almost motherly disapproval, “I know it’s nice to get the extra cash with the holidays coming up and all, but maybe you should slow down a bit. I’m starting to think you’re just running on coffee 24/7.”

“Coffee is the elixir of life, I’ll have you know.”

“Yeah, until you have a heart attack.”

By now they’d reached the front door of the bakery, so Marinette removed her arm from Alya’s hold and spun away from her.

“I’m fine!” Marinette insisted, “I’m getting a handle on things. I’ll bounce back like I always do.”

Alya didn’t seem entirely convinced, but she relented for now, “Okay then. Just try to take care of yourself. You could rival Adrien for working too hard sometimes.”

Marinette had been reaching for the door handle to go inside, but at the mention of her crush’s name she paused.

“Adrien?”

Alya stared at her in aggravated disbelief, “Seriously? You’ve been so out of it you haven’t been keeping tabs on all things Adrien?”

Marinette guiltily looked down at her shoes, “I...I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“Yeah, you’re not really reassuring me here.”

“Nevermind me. Is...Is everything alright with Adrien?”

Alya crossed her arms and gave Marinette a hard look. Marinette chewed her lip as she sheepishly looked at her friend. Alya’s glare was enough to make her feel thoroughly scolded.

Alya exhaled loudly, “I’m only saying this cause I know you’ll be thinking about him instead of doing what you’re meant to be doing.”

Marinette gave a small nod.

“Adrien’s been really busy these past few weeks. I’m surprised you didn’t notice he looks almost as tired as you.” Alya frowned, her eyes filled with worry, “Nino asked him about it, but all Adrien said was that he was doing some work for his dad.”

“For his dad? Like, for the brand or something?”

“I guess so. A super secret fashion line maybe? I don’t know. Adrien didn’t say much more than that.”

Marinette hummed as she tried to remember if she saw anything recent about the Gabriel brand having any big shows or new fashion lines, but nothing came to mind. She followed every social media platform available for Adrien and his father’s company, so if anything was public she would have known about it.  
She felt annoyed with herself for yet another reason now. Adrien was her crush and someone so important to her, yet she’d been too wrapped up in her Ladybug life recently that she hadn’t even noticed there’d been something going on with him.

“I’m sure it’s nothing.” Alya said as she patted Marinette’s shoulder, “Just focus on whatever's going on with you. You need to get yourself ungrounded.”

Marinette gave a wry smile, “I’m working on it.”

She hoped Alya wouldn’t pick up on how half-hearted her response was. There was so much happening that was out of her control, that Marinette had no choice but to take things as they came. Hawk Moth didn’t seem to work around any obvious schedule, and she couldn’t ask an Akuma to wait five minutes while she finished her homework or took a nap. No matter what, when Ladybug was needed she had to be there.

Thankfully Alya didn’t seem to notice as she turned to leave with a wave, “I’ll see you later. Try to take it easy, okay?”

Marinette gave another weak smile as she waved her friend off.  
 _Easy…_ Nothing had been easy. Not since she became Ladybug.

As was almost expected now, Marinette was home for maybe all of ten minutes before an Akuma alert went off. Tikki seemed to share her sentiment, as the kwami also appeared absolutely done with Hawk Moth’s onslaught. Still, Tikki never offered any complaint when Marinette called her to transform and only ever showed concern for her holder.

Taking on the role of Ladybug once more, she quickly left her bedroom and took off over the Parisian skyline. Her parents were still working in the bakery, but she desperately hoped they wouldn’t come check on her and find her gone. The last thing she needed was to be getting into even more trouble with her parents.

It was a small relief that the Akumatised person was quickly dealt with. Hawk Moth seemed to be taking almost anyone hostage now, as the amount of victims Ladybug had to deal with recently had been a similar threat level to Monsieur Pigeon. With the fight over and another victim saved however, the real hard part was only beginning.  
She barely had any time to check on the woman who’d been Hawk Moth’s latest choice and make sure she was okay before Ladybug had to take off again. The fight had been straight forward enough, but she’d still been forced to use her Lucky Charm. With her earrings already counting down, Ladybug vaulted high and swung low as she weaved herself through the city. She’d only caught glimpses of him, but she knew for sure he was following.  
Chat Noir’s speed was something she was already well acquainted with, but she’d almost forgotten how _stealthy_ he could be. She would lose sight of him and think she had finally shaken him off, only for his lithe form to spring at her from the shadows like a cat going for a bird mid-flight. If he caught her then it would all be over. With the minutes dwindling on her Miraculous, she couldn't afford a slip up that might leave her unable to escape again. So she pushed herself to go harder and faster whenever she saw the black shadow skulking over the rooftops. She would throw herself higher whenever she saw him prowl closer. Having done this for years now, she was used to the rapid movement and pull of gravity. But with her weighted exhaustion bearing down on her and her head pounding painfully behind her eyes, it just felt nauseating and made her excessively dizzy. Chat was moving in closer though, so she had to urge herself onwards until she could lose him enough to find somewhere safe and hidden before her transformation vanished.

She was running out of time though, and Chat Noir was still hot on her heels. Maybe he was more determined today, or maybe she just wasn’t able to put in the same amount of effort anymore. But she couldn’t let herself dwell on it. Even as she felt the rush of air as his claws almost swiped at her head, she couldn’t falter. She _had_ to keep going.  
Ladybug bobbed and weaved between another string of buildings, using alleyways and side streets to try and have Chat Noir lose sight of her. Her transformation was almost up, so she would have to resort to hiding instead. She stumbled to a landing in a tight alley, ducking beneath a fire escape and almost throwing herself behind a pile of storage boxes. As soon as she crouched down to the ground, her Miraculous power ceased. She caught Tikki in her waiting hands, cupping her protectively. It seemed Tikki had fallen asleep immediately, so she gently placed the kwami in the pocket of the hoodie she was wearing.

Marinette didn’t move immediately. Chat Noir had been somewhere close behind and she didn’t want to risk being spotted by him. Ladybug disappearing into thin air then Marinette appearing in the same fashion would likely raise questions if he saw her too quickly. So she remained half crouched in the alley for a moment, trying to catch her breath even though she shouldn’t have been out of it following her superhero endurance. She curled over her knees, wrapping her arms tight around them as she waited for her headache and nausea to ease a little before moving.  
She froze when she heard something. The sound of something metal lightly hitting the ground. It was a noise she recognised so well now. It was the sound of Chat’s baton touching down as he landed somewhere nearby. That was all she heard though. She strained her senses to pick up on _anything_ from the other Miraculous user, but he must have been making the most of his cat-like stealth. He was nearby, but she didn’t know where exactly or how close. She clamped her hands over her mouth to try and stifle her frightened breaths. She couldn’t do much about her heart though, which pounded loud in her chest and echoed in her ears. Surely he would hear her. He had the unfair advantage of his enhanced hearing after all.  
It was agonising, staying crouched behind the pile of boxes as she tried to silence herself as much as possible. But she still hadn’t heard anything more apart from her own thundering heartbeat. Trying to keep the increasing shaking of her body under control, she turned her head a tiny bit to try and see something. When she couldn’t see anything beyond the pile of boxes, she very slowly leaned forward a little to see some more of the alley.  
She pressed her hands harder to her mouth to swallow back her frightened gasp as a black boot stepped directly in front of her. She fell over backwards in shock, flattening to the wall behind her. Her heart lurched into her throat as she stared up at him in horror. He’d found her.

Glowing green eyes locked onto her immediately as Chat restlessly flexed his clawed hands.

His gaze lingered on her a moment longer before warily glancing around them. Marinette watched him, absolutely frozen in fear now as she waited to see what he would do. But he did nothing.  
Once he was done scouring every corner of the alley with his eyes, he tentatively turned to her again.

“Marinette?” his voice was strangely quiet, “What are you doing here?”

She couldn’t bring herself to answer. Even without her heart hopelessly jammed in her throat in terror, she had no idea what she would say. Chat stood there, almost patiently as his glowing gaze shifted over her again.

“The akuma’s already gone.” he told her, “Ladybug took care of it, so you don’t have to be hiding here.”

The rigid tension in her shoulders eased a fraction. Did he...did he really think that she was just some civilian trying to hide out in another attack?  
When she didn’t move or answer, she saw a small change in his posture. The stiffness of his shoulders released some while he started to awkwardly shift his weight on his feet. His cat ears drooped against his head, green eyes softening as he gave her a smile that seemed almost sad.

His voice was so quiet she barely heard him, “Or is it me you’re hiding from?”

Marinette tried to swallow back the anxious nausea rising in her throat. It seemed he hadn’t made any connection with her to Ladybug for the moment, so perhaps she could just quietly go on her way and he would let her go. But she realised something stood that out to her. He called her Marinette. He knew her _name_. How could he possibly know it when the only time she’d spoken to him as a civilian was that strange night on her balcony? She was certain she hadn’t even told her his name then. She didn’t know whether to be angry or scared that he knew.

“H-How...do you know my name?” she whispered.

Chat blinked at her before his cat ears went straight up in alarm

“O-Oh, that! I-I um, you - your...book!” he stammered, “You’d written your name in your sketchbook!”

His tail waved nervously behind him as she looked at him with suspicion. His reaction was a little odd, but the explanation made sense. Her name _was_ in her sketchbook after all.

Marinette automatically flinched when Chat took a hesitant step towards her. He quickly stiffened at her reaction and ceased his approach.

“Why are you here anyway?” he asked as he looked around the dark alley, “Is everything okay?”

“Y-Yup.” she answered shakily, “Absolutely peachy.”

She slowly forced herself to get up, but it felt like her legs had weakened excessively in the short time she had been crouched on the ground. She was forced to lean on the wall next to her as her legs continued to wobble under her. Chat looked like he wanted to say something, but he remained quiet as he watched her stagger along the wall.

“Why are you still here?” Marinette asked, trying to sound annoyed to cover up how anxious she was actually feeling, “Don’t you have...cat things to go do? Maybe a whole city to terrorise instead of bothering me?”

She took another step to try and slowly make her way further down the alley to leave and get away from him, but as soon as she did her legs buckled. Her head throbbed, making her vision spin as she found herself falling. She braced for the impact of the cold, hard ground, but she found herself being surprised instead as a pair of strong arms quickly wrapped around her. Her weakening body sank into the hold she now found herself in. She was slow to figure out what exactly had happened, looking up in a daze as she felt a hand gently brush against her forehead. Her breath quickly left her body as she suddenly realised Chat was a lot closer now, his face mere inches from hers. His arm that was holding her up around her waist had pulled her in close, almost squeezing her into his chest as he supported her. His green eyes glowed in the dim light of the alley, his eyebrows furrowing as his hand at her forehead lightly pressed against it.

“You have a temperature.” he murmured.

Marinette awkwardly shook her head to remove his touch, ignoring how it made her headache even worse, “No I don’t.”

“You can barely stand up.”

“It’s just a dizzy moment. I’m fine, so you can let me go.”

“...dizzy moment?”

Marinette tried to force whatever strength she could back into her legs in an attempt to steady herself. Even though she could feel her knees already shaking again, she pushed herself away from him to try and prove that she was absolutely fine. She certainly didn’t need or want _his_ help.  
For a brief moment, she thought she had convinced him. His arm around her waist shifted and she almost sighed in relief at him letting her go. What could have been a quiet sigh instead came out as an alarmed squawk as Chat’s arms shifted around her shoulders and under her knees. She flailed in his hold as he lifted her up in a bridal carry, pushing away at his face and body as she tried and failed to free herself.

“Put me down this minute!” she demanded.

“Calm down.” he grunted as she continued to wriggle in his hold, “I’m just going to take you home.”

“I can get myself home! I don’t need _you_!”

Her words came out louder and angrier than she had intended, but as she stared at Chat she found her frustration quickly shrinking as her anxiety overtook it dramatically. His eyes had hardened as he almost glared at her and she could feel his arms becoming tighter around her to prevent her from squirming free.

“It’s freezing and you’re out without a coat or anything!” he hissed, “You can barely stand, have a crazy temperature and you say you’re just _dizzy_!”

He was mad. She couldn’t understand why he was mad.The only reason she could think of was that he was perhaps annoyed that, at least from his point of view, she’d distracted him from finding out where Ladybug had gone.

“Now hold still.” he told her flatly, making it obvious that she had no say in the matter now, “I’m taking you home.”

Marinette remained silent as Chat Noir carried her off. This whole situation was terrifyingly bizarre, but she didn’t have it in her to fight it anymore. She was exhausted and aching. She also hadn’t really noticed how _cold_ she’d been until she unwillingly settled into his hold. She’d only been wearing a hoodie and sweatpants when she transformed which, while comfortable, did very little to protect her from the biting winter chill outside. But Chat was warm. He held her close as he sprinted over the rooftops, his steady steps and firm hold preventing her from being jostled about as he went. Marinette protectively curled her hands over the front pocket of her hoodie, trying to hide Tikki’s presence there. It seemed like she’d just barely gotten away with Chat not finding out that Ladybug was literally in his grasp at that moment and she wanted to make sure he never did.  
It frightened her to think that Chat had come so close to finding her out, and could still very much discover her identity. But for now there was no way he knew it was her. There was no way Chat would be treating her so gently if he’d realised the girl in his arms was his mortal enemy. He’d have taken her earrings the moment he saw how weakened she was. But no, here they were instead as Chat silently carried her home. Marinette even found herself hiding her face against his chest, as his presence and the dark colour of his suit helped to block out the glaring winter sunshine that made her head hurt even more. She should have felt angry with herself for finding comfort from the person she should have been sucker punching. But she didn’t have the energy anymore to care. In her dazed state she found herself listening to the rhythm of his heartbeat and breathing in his scent that seemed almost familiar.

* * *

Chat protectively cradled Marinette in his arms, trying his best to envelope her with his own body in an effort to ward off the freezing air. He had no idea what she was doing outside in such casual clothing and no coat or anything to keep her warm. All he knew was that he needed to get her home _now_ . It was obvious that she was sick, despite how she tried to convince him that there was nothing wrong. He was mentally kicking himself for not having noticed earlier at school. Alya had mentioned something about how Marinette had been more scattered than usual recently, but he’d been too wrapped up in other things to really pay any attention to it.  
He grimaced at the thought of _other things_ . Other things was exactly what he was meant to be doing right now. He’d been doing this never ending game of cat and mouse with Ladybug these past two weeks just like his father demanded. Sometimes she would escape before he had any chances, while others he would be chasing her right down to the wire before she vanished. Today was one of the latter. He’d been close. So _close_ . She’d been right there and then all of a sudden - _gone_ . He attempted to look for her but his search turned up Marinette instead, hunkered down in an alley while she probably waited for the recent Akuma attack to end. At least that’s what he hoped. He felt guilty and selfish for how his heart panged at the thought that maybe _he_ was the one she’d been hiding from. But of course she would. He was a villain. Any sensible person would try to run and hide if they saw him coming.

Chat’s breath hitched automatically as Marinette let out a quiet groan against his chest. Given how hushed it was and how tough she’d been trying to act in front of him, he probably wasn’t meant to hear it. His enhanced hearing picked it up though and he became even more self conscious of her discomfort. He was growing increasingly worried at how pale and feverish she was. There was also the fact that she said she was having a ‘dizzy moment’. Rationally, he knew it was probably nothing and just on account of her being unwell. But still it caused a spike of panic in him. His mother had been the same. She also had moments of weakness and dizziness before she...she…  
Chat shook his head in an effort to clear away the memories. Now wasn’t the time for his thoughts to go down that dark path. Marinette needed help and, despite her glaringly obvious dislike of him, he wasn’t going to leave her until she was safe.

He was glad to find that the skylight on Marinette’s balcony wasn't locked, although leaving it unlocked was something else he would need to scold her about later. Chat carefully shifted all of her weight to one of his arms so that he could gently lower them both into her room. Landing next to her bed, he quickly reached up to close the skylight again and prevent the cold air from seeping in. Then resting one of his knees on the mattress he leaned over the bed so he could carefully set the girl down.

“Here,” he said softly, “You should rest a bit.”

Marinette blinked her bleary eyes at him. Had she fallen asleep for a moment?

“My room…” she murmured as she sluggishly looked around, “I’m in my room…”

“Yes.” Chat answered as he started to pull the blankets covering the bed over her, “I brought you here.”

She was staring at him again as though she wasn’t entirely sure he was actually there. But slowly her eyes widened as her lucidity returned.

“You’re _in_ my _room_!” she yelled.

“I told you I was taking you home.” he retorted.

“But you didn’t have to come into my _room_! You could have just left me on the balcony!”

“And let you try to get through the skylight by yourself in this state? Not a chance.”

He tried to not hiss with frustration as she fought to push him and the blankets away so she could get off of the bed. He didn’t realise Marinette had such a childishly stubborn streak. Normally he found her determination admirable, but right now it was preventing from making sure she was okay. And making sure she was okay was all he wanted right now.

His tail whipped around behind him in frustration as he firmly pushed her back onto the bed. Planting his hands either side of her on the bed, he leaned over her so that she was effectively caged there underneath him.

“You’re sick.” he told her flatly, “You won’t get any better if you don’t rest.”

“How can I rest with all of these Akumas appearing all the time?” she spat back.

They stared at each other in shock then, her words hanging heavily in the air as they both took in what she’d said without thinking.

The burning guilt became too much for Chat, so he quickly lifted himself off the bed and away from her. Of course she would be stressed and upset with the amount of Akuma attacks lately. He and Ladybug may have been the ones directly involved in the conflict, but all who lived in Paris were unfortunately caught in the crossfire. It wasn’t just Ladybug and Chat this constant stream of attacks was taking its toll on, but normal people like Marinette too. And it was all his fault.

“U-Um, what I said…” Marinette stammered quietly, “What I meant to say was...um…”

He shrugged his shoulders, “No, I get it. I really never intended for ordinary people to be affected by this but...I guess the fallout between my side and Ladybug’s is just unavoidable. I’m sorry.”

Marinette gave him a peculiar look as he spoke, but didn’t offer any answer.

“I promise there won’t be any more attacks today.” he continued, “So you can rest easy.”

Chat knew he couldn’t really make such a promise on Hawk Moth’s behalf. But even if another attack were to happen, he would sooner take out the Akuma himself to make sure Marinette could feel at ease than wait for Ladybug to deal with it then run after her in another useless game of cat and mouse. He was already disgusted with himself for having let this affect one of his close friends so badly to the point of her being literally worried sick. He certainly wouldn’t stand for it continuing.

Chat let out a steady sigh, standing up straight in an effort to appear composed and hide the inner mess of his thoughts. Marinette was still quiet, but continued to watch him curiously. He subtly cast his eye over her pale face and the feverish tint of her cheeks as he thought about what to do now.

“We need to bring that fever down.” he said softly, “Do you have anything you could take?”

She still seemed a little bewildered as she answered slowly, “I think there’s some medicine in the bathroom cabinet.”

“Are you parents home?”

“My parents? No, they’ll still be in the bakery at this time.”

Chat thoughtfully crossed his arms. He really didn’t like the idea of just leaving her by herself. Not until he was sure she was taken care of at least.

He nodded to himself as he came to a decision, “I can find it. I’ll get you some water too.”

Marinette stared at him as though he’d said something absolutely crazy, “You..wait, what?”

“When did you last eat? You should probably have something now, so you wait here and I’ll bring you some food.”

“Wait, hold on!”

He ignored her as he picked up the edges of the blanket again. Before she could shove him back like before, he quickly wrapped the blanket around her until she was thoroughly swaddled in the soft fabric. He was being careful to not use any of his increased strength when handling her, but with her body already weak with illness it didn’t take much anyway to get her safely tucked in.

“Wait here.” he smiled, “I’ll be right back.”

“Wait! Get back here you dumb cat!” she squawked as she wriggled in her blanket prison, “Come back - argh! - Come back and release me!”

She seemed lively enough now, so he felt okay to leave her for a few minutes while he went to search for some medicine and something she could eat.

He could probably count on one hand the amount of times he’d been to Marinette’s house, but he was fairly sure he could remember the layout of it. He snuck down through the trap door that connected her bedroom to the main floor of the apartment, ears and eyes on high alert as he made his way down the steps. She’d said her parents would be downstairs in the bakery still, but he didn’t want to take any chances. He made the most of his cat-like stealth, stepping lightly and silently as he moved through the apartment.  
He went to the bathroom first. The cabinet was easily spotted, so he opened it up and grabbed the first box of painkillers he saw. He already knew it was bad enough that he’d more or less invaded the place, so that last thing he wanted to do was disturb it further by rummaging through everything.  
Closing the cabinet again, he quickly made his way to the kitchen. He was pleased that he remembered where the glasses were kept. He stood at the sink to fill it with water as he looked carefully around the kitchen with consideration. He’d gotten medicine and water, now all he needed was to find something for her to eat. That presented a slight problem though, as he knew he was absolutely hopeless in a kitchen. Something like soup was apparently a good meal for someone who was sick, but he had no idea how to cook or prepare anything.  
He rubbed the back of his neck as he stood there in the middle of the kitchen at a complete loss. Perhaps he could go out and get some takeaway food somewhere? It was a thought, but he didn’t want to leave her alone for too long. There was also the option of him transforming so he could use his civilian phone to search for advice on how to make something easy, but the risk of exposing his identity was too much.  
Sighing to himself, he looked around the kitchen again when something caught his eye. There was a fruit bowl sitting on the counter, filled with the usual assortment of fruits one would expect. An almost forgotten memory resurfaced for him, making him smile at the bittersweet nostalgia. Finding a plate, he grabbed an apple from the bowl. He was able to find a knife in one of the drawers, so he set about carefully slicing the apple into wedges. His lack of kitchen skills were obvious, as the apple pieces came out incredibly clumsy looking, but he managed to remove the core and cut the fruit into easier to eat wedges. It looked nothing like the way he remembered it, but he allowed a small smile at being able to do it himself.

When he returned to Marinette’s room, he found that she’d managed to mostly escape the blanket but appeared to have given up after that. She was lying with her face pressed into her bed and curled up in a foetal position. It was hushed and restrained, but again Chat was able to hear her soft whimper. He approached her quietly, gingerly setting the glass of water and plate with apple pieces on the shelf just above the bed’s headrest. She shivered as he brushed aside some of her hair so that he could place the back of his hand to her forehead and then her cheek as he felt her temperature.

“How are you feeling?” he asked softly as he perched himself on the edge of the bed.

She glared at him from under her bangs that had fallen across her face again, “ _Fine_.”

“Alright. Well, take these and you’ll be even more _fine_.”

He gave her a teasing smirk as he removed a couple of pills from the package of painkillers and presented them to her in his open palm. She stared at his hand for a moment, glancing at the package he held in his other as though to double check what he was actually giving her.  
Chat remained patient for her as she shakily pushed herself up into a seated position. She wouldn’t look him in the eye as she took the painkillers from him, and then the glass of water when he offered it to her.

“You should try eating something too.” he told her as he reached for the plate then.

Marinette took a steady gulp of water before bringing it away from her lips when she saw the poorly sliced apple.

“What the hell is that?” she asked, trying to keep her voice level but the hint of laughter was still obvious.

“Apple.” he answered matter-of-factly, “I even cut it up for you so it’s easier to eat.”

“You _massacred_ it.”

“Well, I guess you’ve found out I’m not a five star chef.” he chuckled, taking the glass from her and swapping it for the plate.

She stared down at the apple chunks in absolute bewilderment before looking back at him with an arched eyebrow.

Chat rolled her eyes at her hesitation, “Just try and eat a bit. You’re acting like I’m trying to poison you or something. I swear I’m not.”

To prove his point, he took one of the slices and popped it into his mouth. He chewed the sweet, crisp fruit before swallowing, almost wincing with regret when it hit his already empty stomach. He’d been struggling to eat or sleep normally himself with all that was going on recently, but he pushed his own discomfort aside in favor of tending to Marinette.  
She watched him skeptically for a moment before delicately picking up one of the smaller apple wedges.

“Why’d you even cut it?” she murmured as she brought it to her lips.

Chat gave a shy laugh as he rubbed the back of his neck, “Whenever I got sick when I was younger, my mother used to give me apple slices. Sometimes it was the only thing I could eat.”

He smiled again at the memory. He’d never been one to get sick too often, but he absolutely hated it. His mother would have stayed with him during those times and read him stories and give him the apple slices that had become so memorable to him. But ever since her health declined and resulted in her current state, he’d been left alone whenever he got sick. His father and Nathalie remained much too busy to do anything much less even check on him. Really the only person he saw whenever he got ill these days was his bodyguard, and that was mostly because he would be the one designated to check on him.

“You’re so weird.” Marinette muttered, shaking him from his thoughts.

She’d eaten a couple pieces of the fruit but had stopped now, leaving the plate and untouched slices resting on her lap. Since she appeared to be done trying to eat and he wasn’t about to force her, he gently took the plate from her and set it on the shelf next to the now only partly filled glass of water.

She let out a short laugh, “I had no idea _Nurse Noir_ had such a pleasant bedside manner.”

He gave her a wink, “Cats make great companions, no matter the situation.”

Her delicate laugh died down and she went back to staring at her lap, folding and unfolding her hands together as though she were thinking about something. He was starting to worry that maybe she was feeling even more sick now, but then she spoke.

“Why are you like this?”

His cat ears gave a confused flick as he wasn’t sure he understood what he’d heard, “Like what?”

“Like...this.” she vaguely gestured at him, “You fight with Ladybug all the time and have been causing problems in Paris for _years_ alongside Hawk Moth.”

Chat swallowed thickly as the familiar feeling of guilt started to burn a hole in his chest again.

“But now you’re sitting here,” she continued, “Being nice to me and behaving like a good person even though I told you to go away. It just...it doesn't make sense.”

He looked at her for a moment before his eyes drifted down to the floor. She must have been expecting him to say something as she went quiet then, but he wasn’t sure what to tell her. Obviously he couldn’t let her know he was in fact Adrien and considered her a very important friend. He couldn’t really tell her anything. But still, it hurt that she seemed to think only the worst of him and the fact that he wasn’t some menacing criminal out to destroy Paris was just so bizarre to her. He could feel her eyes on him, but he didn’t dare meet her gaze. Out of fear, shame or what, he didn’t know.

“You think I fight Ladybug...because I’m not a good person?” he whispered, “That I’m a bad one?”

“You don’t want to fight Ladybug?” she asked quietly.

“...I don’t know.”

“You don’t _know_? If you don’t know, then what are you even fighting for?”

He turned to look at her now, giving a sad smile as he tentatively met her shining blue eyes.

“I have a very good reason.” he told her, “Something I need to do.”

Marinette chewed her lip as she stared at him, as though intently and carefully thinking about something.

A silence stretched out between them. Chat wondered if he’d said something odd, or perhaps too much. He really shouldn’t be saying _anything_ to Marinette like this. He was already expecting another volatile reaction from his father for once again not catching Ladybug. If anyone found out he was sitting here and casually talking with a civilian, the response would be even worse. Still, he would face whatever punishment would be waiting for him at home because he at least knew Marinette was okay. He wasn’t about to go spilling everything to her though. His father already had enough reason to call him careless.

He watched Marientte as she swayed slightly where she sat, her feverish state preventing her from keeping herself steady. Her eyes were heavy with fatigue as her gaze drifted down to the empty space between them.

“You should lie down and rest.” he said quietly as he gestured for her to lay back on the bed again.

Marinette stared at him with an unreadable expression before giving a hesitant nod. She lay down on the bed as Chat grabbed the blankets once more, making sure to completely cover her up to her shoulder.

“You should try talking to Ladybug.” she murmured all of a sudden, “Maybe she can do something about your ‘very good reason’.”

Chat stared at her in surprise, completely caught off guard by her suggestion, “I uh, I don’t think she’d want to speak to me. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we don’t exactly see eye to eye.”

“You can always try. She might surprise you.” Marinette answered as she snuggled down into the comfort of her bed, “Just like you’ve surprised me.”

Chat’s heart gave an excited thump in his chest, “I’ve surprised you?”

“That maybe you’re not all bad.”

It was a simple statement and not entirely definite, but it still gave Chat an overwhelming rush of emotions. He clenched his jaw, trying to keep his expression neutral and breathing even so as to not give away how much he’d been affected by just a few words.

_Not all bad…_

It was the first time someone had said something like that to him, to Chat Noir. He’d been called all sorts of things since taking on this persona. Villain. Criminal. Terrorist. A bane on society. A lowlife and utter waste of space. Even for his father, who he was trying to help in all of this, who’s plan he was doing his absolute best to follow, seemed to hold very little regard for him.  
He quickly turned his head away to try and hide his eyes that had started to sting with tears. He mentally scolded himself for even having such a reaction from just one sentence. Marinette probably didn’t mean it entirely, it was likely just a passing thought that would be gone by tomorrow and she would go back to hating Chat Noir like everyone else did. If she noticed his sudden aversion, she didn’t say anything. In fact she’d gone silent.  
Chat carefully looked at her again, blinking the blurriness from his eyes as he carefully searched her face. Her eyes were softly closed and her face was half buried into her pillow. She’d fallen asleep. Chat smiled to himself, feeling a little more at ease now that he saw her sleeping soundly. He could still feel the feverish warmth from her as he delicately tucked some loose hair behind her ear, but at least now she was resting. He didn’t know why he did it, but his hand lingered there as he softly stroked his knuckles over her cheek.

“Thank you.” he whispered even though she wouldn’t hear him.

He stayed with her as she slept on. Thankfully it seemed his father was done with the Akumas for today, so Chat was able to stay by her side. He felt absolutely exhausted himself and probably could have fallen asleep right next to Marinette, but he wouldn’t dare leave himself in such a vulnerable situation. So he just quietly sat with her as she slept, watching to make sure her temperature didn’t appear to get any worse and ensuring she remained comfortable. He stayed until he heard her mother return to the apartment below, calling out to Marinette. With the sound of Sabine approaching the trap door to the bedroom, Chat silently slipped out of the skylight, closing it behind him like he hadn’t even been there at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone get these kids some help please
> 
> I've been kind of sick recently among with other stuff going on, so chapter updates might be a bit slower but I promise they're still coming.  
> Thank you as always for reading another chapter! You're all amazing <3
> 
> [Selkie on Tumblr](https://heartfulselkie.tumblr.com/)


	7. No One Will Ever Guess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **WARNING:** There is some physical abuse in this chapter in the form of grabbing/pushing/pulling. It's nothing graphic, but putting this here just so people know.

The city lights were already starting to come on as he ran across the rooftops. The winter sun had dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in deep blue tones and casting long shadows that provided plenty of cover for him to remain unseen. He was glad of it, as he'd already caused far too much trouble lately. The last thing he needed was to be spotted by a civilian and cause a fresh wave of chaos at the sight of him.

Normally he would take his time and take the longest route possible on his way home. Tonight though, he was making a straight beeline for it. There were thoughts whirling in his mind and words burning on his tongue that he needed to get out while his pent up frustration lasted.

"Plagg, claws in!"

Adrien had barely touched down in his bedroom before calling off his transformation and heading straight for the door. Plagg glanced towards the cupboard that contained his treasure trove of cheese, but after seeing his holder's almost aggressive stride he quickly flitted into Adrien's shirt collar.

Adrien roughly pulled his bedroom door open before going for the grand staircase of the foyer. His footsteps echoed off the marbled floor, resounding throughout the quiet space. He immediately went for the atelier, his frustration urging him onwards and causing him to ignore the polite protocol that was normally expected of him.

"Father," Adrien said as he swiftly opened the door, not even pausing to knock, "We need to talk."

Gabriel didn't appear at all surprised by his son suddenly barging into the room unannounced. He stood by the standing desk at the far end of the room as usual, his hand hovering over the touch screen there in mid-task. His cool gaze slowly moved to Adrien as he quickly approached.

"Adrien," the man greeted coldly, "I believe you understand the importance of knocking. You know I am very busy."

"That's exactly why I came in." Adrien answered with exasperation, "I want to talk to you, but I don't want it to be 'later'."

Gabriel gave him a measured stare before slowly stepping away from the podium. Clasping his hands behind his back, he approached Adrien with a steady stride.

"I hope what you want to say has to do with why it took you so long to return." His voice was even, but there was a cutting tone seeping in, "You were meant to be following Ladybug. I trust you allowed yourself in here because you have some news in that regard?"

Adrien swallowed thickly as he tried to force down the increasing anxiety that was burning away inside him, "N-No, but that's what I want to talk about."

Gabriel now stood in front of him, his frosted gaze glaring down and he waited expectantly. Adrien started to spin his ring around his finger, his eyes becoming avoidant as holding any form of eye contact with his father was quickly becoming overbearing.

"It's been two weeks now, but she's still not giving in." Adrien said quietly, "What we're doing isn't going anywhere and all its doing is causing more trouble than it's worth. The only ones it's really affecting are normal people! The people you Akumatise...The innocent bystanders...people who don’t need to be part of this!"

"And I..I'm worried." he continued, "I know it's been...a lot for me. But you're the one making all the Akumas. I never see you at meals and I don't know when or even _if_ you sleep!"

"None of that is your concern." Gabriel cut in sharply, "What _you_ should be thinking about is the Miraculous. I included you in this as you said you wanted to help, yet you insist on dragging your feet.”

Adrien flinched away at his father’s scathing words. A startle cry left his throat as Gabriel suddenly snatched Adrien’s wrist, pulling it between them so that his ring was in clear view for the both of them.

“Perhaps I was too hasty in allowing you to have this.” Gabriel growled, “You continue to be disobedient and are throwing away all of the opportunities I make for you. All of your potential is going to waste.”

Adrien’s words caught in his throat as his father’s eyes stared obsessively at the Ring Miraculous. He was trembling violently now. If it weren’t for the iron grip that Gabriel had on his wrist, Adrien was sure he’d had fallen straight to the floor.

A sharp hiss suddenly erupted as Plagg shot out from his hiding place.

“Don’t you even dare take the ring!” Plagg spat, “Adrien’s my holder and if you try to take my Miraculous away from him or give it someone else, then I’ll be Cataclysming _everything_ in sight - _you_ included!”

Gabriel appeared taken aback by the sudden outburst from the kwami, but it was only for a brief second and his painfully tight grip on Adrien’s wrist remained.

He stoically cleared his throat before turning his attention back to Adrien, “I won’t be taking the Miraculous from you at this time, Adrien. You are my son and I know you can do better, so I will forgive your actions this once. You will need to get that kwami of yours under control however.”

Plagg still floated in the air between them, his small body practically vibrating with anger as he growled at the man. Adrien’s heart was pounding fearfully in his chest as he felt himself pinned under his father’s glare. He gave a weak nod as he reached out, gently cupping his available hand around Plagg. Plagg let out another growl, but didn’t resist it as Adrien coaxed the kwami closer until he could defensively hold the small cat against his chest.

“And speaking of doing better,” Gabriel added icily, “I have been told that you have been skipping meals.”

Anxiety dropped hard to the pit of Adrien’s stomach like hot coals, scorching him from the inside out as he continued to shake. He couldn’t meet his father’s eye still and his hand was starting to feel painfully numb with how hard his wrist was being held.

When Adrien was unable to give any answer, Gabriel sighed, “I hired a dietician and chef to specifically cater to you, but you are letting all of that go to waste. Tell me, if you’re not hungry at your set meal times then you must be eating elsewhere. Have you been eating junk food without permission?”

“N-No…” Adrien stammered weakly.

“You know that I do not appreciate being lied to.”

“I-I’m not…”

“Then you must be hungry now. It’s been a long day.”

Before Adrien could give any answer, he was suddenly being pulled by his wrist towards the door. The aggressive action caught him by surprise, making his body try to automatically resist it in order to stay balanced. But his father was too strong, so Adrien found his feet slipping over the polished marble floor as he was dragged from the room.

Adrien cried out as he was hauled across the entrance hall. It felt like the vice-like grip on his wrist was going to break something from the way his father twisted and pulled his arm. Nathalie and the bodyguard must have heard the commotion, as the two of them appeared as Gabriel dragged Adrien to the dining room.

“Nathalie,” Gabriel called for her attention without stopping, “Let the kitchen know that Adrien will take his evening meal a little earlier tonight.”

Nathalie hesitated a moment before quickly heading towards the kitchen as instructed. Adrien whimpered as he was led by his aching wrist to the dining table before being roughly forced to sit in one of the seats.

“ _Sit_.” his father demanded.

Adrien obeyed.

It was a few minutes before Nathalie returned with a tray of food. During that time, Gabriel had yet to release Adrien’s arm. It was as though to ensure that he didn’t try to get up from his seat, but Adrien was far too frightened to do anything other than what he’d been told. He heard Plagg letting out another quiet growl, so he quickly placed his hand over the kwami again. He brought the little cat closer to his chest once again in a silent plea to not incite his father’s anger any further. Plagg narrowed his green eyes at him but ultimately relented. He slipped into hiding once more under Adrien’s overshirt where he started to knead his paws against him in a comforting gesture.  
Gabriel finally released Adrien when Nathalie set the food down on the table. Adrien stared at the portion of chicken and vegetables, his stomach turning at the sight. Gabriel stalked his way to the opposite side of the table before taking the seat across from Adrien.

“Eat.” Gabriel instructed.

Adrien nervously licked his lips as he noticed that food had only been brought for him.

His throat felt unbearable tight as he tried to speak, “A-Aren’t you going to-”

“ _Eat._ ”

Adrien flinched at his father’s dominating tone. His hands trembled as he quietly took up his cutlery and mechanically started to eat. His right wrist throbbed in agony when he moved it and had glaring red marks to match, but Adrien ignored and he proceeded to eat his food. He didn’t even taste anything as he stiffly ate one bite after another. He wanted to cry but did his best to blink away the threatening tears. Gabriel was watching him the whole time and Adrien dreaded what sort of reaction showing such emotional weakness might cause.

Adrien wasn’t sure how long it had been when his father stood up. He kept his eyes fixed on his plate as he continued to take small bites.

“From now on your bodyguard will observe you at meals.” Gabriel said coldly, “If you do not eat, then I will be informed.”

Adrien didn’t answer. He still refused to look at his father even though he could hear the man approaching him once again. He couldn’t stop the immediate flinch of his body or the pitiful whine that slipped from his throat when a heavy hand came to rest on his shoulder.

“It is not your job to worry about me. It is my job to worry about you.” Gabriel’s tone was almost convincingly sympathetic, “And I do worry about you, Adrien. I just want you to be your best. But whatever is going on with you, be it teenage rebellion or what, it needs to stop. You have an ideal weight to keep as a model, but if you allow that to change then my ability to take care of you will be brought into question.”

Adrien winced again as his father patted his shoulder.

“I know I don’t handle things as well as your mother did. But I am doing what I can, Adrien. So don’t make things any more difficult for me. I assure you, we will have her back and then everything can be returned to the way it was. I just need you to behave and listen to me.”

Adrien still didn’t lift his gaze from his half eaten plate of food. He let out the breath he didn’t realise he’d been holding as his father’s hand left him and the man finally walked away.

“Watch him.” he heard Gabriel’s command to the bodyguard who had remained by the doorway of the dining room.

It was followed by the sound of Gabriel’s calm footsteps along with Nathalie’s heels as they left. The noise of the atelier door closing once more from the other side of the foyer signalling that they were now gone.

Adrien continued to eat in bitter silence. He wasn’t sure if he’d been hungry at all before, but he certainly wasn’t now. He could barely taste what he was eating and each bite hit his stomach like a painful lead ball. It was taking all that he had to not choke or throw up.  
He let out an alarmed whimper, jolting in his seat as he felt a hand at his back. It was larger than his father’s and much less demanding. Adrien trembled as he slowly looked up to see the Gorilla standing next to him. He blinked his watery eyes as he tried to figure out what the bodyguard was expecting of him. Was he not eating fast enough? Did he need to act like he was enjoying his food more? He watched as the Gorilla glanced to the half eaten food before returning his gaze to Adrien. The man’s large hand still rested on Adrien’s back as he calmly reached out with his other. Adrien shied away from the action before watching in confused shock as the Gorilla lifted the plate off of the table. He then stepped back and gestured with his head towards the door. It was permission to leave.

Adrien didn’t move. His gaze skittishly moved around from the Gorilla, to the table in front of him and through the open doors of the dining room to the closed one of the atelier across the entrance hall. He didn’t know whether this was a trick or not.  
He flinched again when the Gorilla lightly touched his back once more. Adrien couldn’t bring himself to resist as he was encouraged to stand up from his seat. He wasn’t sure what he was meant to be doing, so he just let the Gorilla guide him towards the door. He nervously twisted his ring on his finger as he looked back towards the large man. Again the Gorilla gestured with his head, this time towards the staircase. Adrien took one step towards the stairs, and then another. He carefully tested if the permission was genuine as he nervously retreated from the Gorilla. The man watched him before giving a silent nod.

Adrien wanted to make a run for it in case the Gorilla changed his mind, but he forced himself to go quietly. He was far too afraid of his father hearing Adrien escaping to his room, so he made himself move with as much stealth as possible. When he reached the top of the stairs, Adrien looked back again. The Gorilla offered another nod before turning around, the half eaten plate of food still in hand as he went towards the kitchen.

When Adrien reached his room he dropped his attempts at staying quiet. No one would hear him now. They never did when he was in his room. His painfully restricted breathing quickly turned to sobbing gasps as the tears started to fall. He tenderly held his wrist, staring at the increasingly red imprint as he stiffly flexed his fingers. Plagg emerged from his hiding spot only to attach himself to Adrien’s shoulder, rubbing his head against Adrien’s neck and offering comforting purrs.  
Adrien stumbled aimlessly across the floor. His head was spinning and his lungs ached with each painful, shivering breath. In his wavering vision he caught sight of his computer, each screen lit up with the image of his mother.

_She wouldn’t have let this happen…_

His father had always been strict, but Adrien had never known the full extent of it. His mother had always come to his rescue, had always protected him from Gabriel’s freezing cold anger. She’d always been there to comfort Adrien when he was scared and upset. Always there to reassure him and love him. But now she was gone, leaving behind a gaping void in the shambling remains of their family. And his father grieved for it. Adrien knew he had to support his father through this awful time, to do all that he could to see their goals come to fruition. But it was so _hard_ . And it was only getting harder.  
Adrien did his best to stifle his sobs and wipe away the tears, but they wouldn’t stop. His stomach lurched and roiled with each gasping hiccup. An agonising feeling of anxiety rose up in him, making Adrien’s body convulse involuntarily. He stumbled towards the bathroom, almost tripping over himself in his haste. He ignored the shock of pain as he fell harshly on his knees next to the toilet. Gripping the sides of it, he retched and vomited all that he had just eaten. It happened again and again until he could only spit up bile. When it was finally over, he slumped on the cold floor and curled himself into a ball. His sobs had finally stopped now but tears continued to sting his eyes. He lay there, shivering on the floor with only the sound of Plagg’s quiet soothing purr to ward off the encroaching silence.

* * *

Marinette sighed deeply as she burrowed herself further under the blankets. The morning light was gently filtering in through her skylight, but she wasn't quite ready to wake up just yet. After her mother fussing over her last night, Marinette reluctantly agreed to stay off school today. Part of her hated feeling so incapacitated. She had so much to do and missing classes would only add to the pile of unfinished school work on her desk. But then there was another part of her who just wanted to hibernate for the rest of the winter season, to stay safe and warm in her bed and just sleep. Her mother's stern but caring nature insisted that for today at least, Marinette should rest. She'd been hesitant at first, as she worried about another akuma popping up any minute. But so far Chat had stayed true to his promise. Yesterday, there had been no further attacks. Even today had been quiet as well.

Marinette slowly opened her eyes, staring into blank space as the thought of Chat Noir. His behaviour had been so unlike him that she'd almost managed to convince herself that it had been some fever induced hallucination. She'd simply somehow gotten herself home and crashed out on her bed before her mother woke her up later in the evening, fretting over her fever. It wasn't until her mother had left again after telling Marinette to just stay in bed that she saw the remaining apple slices. Chat had really been there. Even more so, Tikki had informed her that he had _stayed_ for a couple of hours after Marinette had fallen asleep until Sabine came up from the bakery. It was just too weird, but she couldn't see any reason for Tikki to lie about such a thing. Not that the kwami had ever lied to her before as far as she was aware. She couldn't understand it. Why would he do that? Why would he even care in the first place? He'd seemed like a completely different person. As Ladybug she was used to Chat Noir, the flirtatious jokester who always got in her way and got on her nerves. But as Marinette she saw someone who was seemingly kind and caring, and at times sad. It was giving her whiplash.

She groaned to herself as she pressed her face into her pillow again. Her head was a lot clearer than yesterday, but it still ached now and then. And all of this confusion didn't help. Whether Chat had made good on his promise or it was some lucky coincidence, she was glad of the temporary peace to allow herself to rest a bit. She still felt sore and tired, but she felt miles better than she had. Well enough in fact, that she decided today was as good a time as any for a visit to Master Fu.

After spending all morning in bed she was glad to move around a little. Once Sabine had returned to the bakery after checking in on Marinette at lunch, Marinette took a quick shower and got dressed in clean sweatpants and a large hoodie. Since it was a quick visit and Master Fu being the one she was seeing, she felt comfortable going in her casual clothing. She'd turned up on his doorstep in even worse states following some akuma attacks after all. Once she was ready, she called for Tikki to transform her.

She went at a gentle pace to go easy on herself as she made her way over the buildings. It was times like these she really enjoyed being Ladybug. She was able to freely move about the city and see it from a whole different point of view. She could forget her troubles for a time, all her fears and anxieties, and just _enjoy_ the simpler things her hero persona was capable of. It could only last so long though, as her destination was set and she had to reach there eventually.

When she arrived at Master Fu's shop, she landed around the side of the building out of sight. Once she was sure it was safe, she dropped her transformation. Hiding Tikki away in her purse, she then casually heading round to the front like any normal citizen dropping into a Chinese massage parlour.

She had been here a number of times now, but Master Fu was forever a cryptic man. He had provided some information and training for her in regards to the Miraculous and the box that contained them - not that he’d ever let her use them - but there still seemed to be a lot more that the old man was withholding from her. One of the questions that had been bothering her since she first became Ladybug was at the forefront of her mind once more. She was certain she would again not be given the response she was looking for, but she still had to try. Maybe today was the day Master Fu would give her a straight answer.

She quickly made her way up the stairs to the first floor, stepping towards the wooden door that had now become familiar to her. Taking a breath to make sure she was calm and composed, she carefully knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Either Master Fu never had any actual customers, or he somehow always knew when Marinette would arrive, as he was seated at the low table in the middle of the room as always. The teapot sat in the middle of the table with hot steam curling into the air from its spout. He was on the far side of the table from the door, cup already in his hands. His turtle kwami Wayzz was also sitting on the table, holding his own miniscule cup that was just the perfect size for him.

"It's nice to see you again, Ladybug." Fu greeted as calm as always.

Marinette nodded and offered a quiet hello in response. The greeting he'd given, plus Wayzz's obvious presence, let her know that they were safe to talk freely at this time without worrying about anyone else present. Tikki quickly flew out of her purse, zipping over to Wayzz and joining him on their own little corner of the table. Master Fu gestured for Marinette to sit down also, so she took one of the cushions across from him.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure?" The old man asked as he gave Marinette her own cup of hot tea.

Marinette wrapped her hand around the cup, feeling the comforting warmth seeping into her. She chewed her lip a moment as she tried to figure out the words she needed. After some deliberation, she decided that she needed to be straightforward. She had to know.

"Who is Chat Noir?"

As soon as the question left her lips it hung in the air like a heavy storm cloud, weighted and thundering like an ominous threat.

Master Fu silently held her gaze for a time before taking a steady sip from his tea.

"You've asked me this before." He commented once he put the cup down again.

"I know."

"Do you remember what I told you then?"

Marinette frowned, staring down at her murky reflection in her own beverage. The first time she'd asked had been shortly after she first became Ladybug. She thought it would have been so much easier if she could have surprised Chat when he was as his civilian self and take the damn ring back from him before he could do anything to stop it. It would have saved her a lot of trouble if he had been taken out of the equation from the beginning. Perhaps she could have defeated Hawk Moth by now, or been close at least. Or maybe the ring could have been given to someone else and she would have the partner she was promised.  
Her frustration continued to tie itself in aggressive knots in her stomach as she remembered the first time she pleaded with Master Fu to tell her who Chat Noir was so she could reclaim the Black Cat Miraculous.

“You said you chose him for a reason.” Marinette repeated the words bitterly, “That he had a good heart like me. That you believed he would eventually find his place.”

Master Fu nodded sagely as he took another sip from his cup.

“But it’s been _three years_ !” Marinette cried, almost slamming her own cup on the table, “Nothing’s changed! He _still_ prefers to be Hawk Moth’s lackey and make things so much more difficult and - and _confusing_!”

“Tell me then.” Master Fu answered calmly, “If I tell you who he is, then what would you do?”

“What would I do? I’d go find him and take his Miraculous before he could stop me! I’d make sure he was done playing this stupid game of his and that he wouldn’t be a problem in Paris ever again!”

“So you would go harass an otherwise normal citizen?”

“Normal? He’s not normal!”

“You need to remember that Chat Noir does not exist in smoke and mirrors. Like you, there is a person behind the mask. One I believe had - and still likely does - the potential to be a hero given the opportunity.”

“But he hasn’t become a hero! That’s the problem!”

“Has he had the opportunity?”

“I’m pretty sure after three years he would have. So, yes? Maybe? I...I don’t know.”

Master Fu watched her quietly for a moment before closing his eyes as he stroked his chin. He remained thoughtfully silent a bit longer, leaving Marinette to fidget nervously in her seat.

After some time, he finally spoke again, “Unfortunately, we do not know the circumstances that led to Chat Noir joining Hawk Moth’s cause. All we know is that it seemed to have happened before you two even had a chance to meet properly.”

Marinette’s hands gripped tighter around her cup, her brow knitting together with frustration as she remembered their first encounter. Chat had been so confident and charismatic, the complete opposite of what she had been. He’d even almost convinced her to hand her earrings over then and there. The only reason she hadn’t in the end was because of the chaos Stoneheart had been causing as well as a terrible gut feeling, something she later thought had been Tikki subconsciously warning her about the strangeness of it.

“Does it really matter?” Marinette grumbled, “Chat Noir made his choice.”

“And that denies him the ability to learn and grow from his choices? To make new ones when given the chance?” Master Fu returned gently, “It is possible I indeed misjudged him. But it is also possible that he did not realise what his role could be. You had someone help you find yours, did you not?”

Marinette paused at this, the words causing a memory to resurface in her mind. She had been so lost and alone when trying to face Stoneheart. She didn’t believe that she was cut out to be a hero and it appeared that the majority of Paris didn’t believe in her either. In the midst of her oncoming breakdown, someone had spoken to her. She had been hiding away from people out of shame, so she hadn’t even seen the person as they gently consoled her.

_Without you, they won’t make it. You just have to prove it to them. So what if you’ve never been a hero before? So what if it’s all sort of new to you? You can still try._

Her memory of the soft voice caused a warmth to return to her chest. Those words had likely been the defining moment for her fully stepping into her newfound heroic role. It had been just enough for her to face the manifestation of Hawk Moth and make her promise to the whole of Paris before going on to stopping Stoneheart and saving the day.

Marinette shook her head free of the memory, focusing back on the task at hand.

“I don’t think Chat Noir will change his mind and flip sides though.” she murmured, “He apparently has a good reason for siding with Hawk Moth.”

“Oh?” Master Fu hummed as he stroked his beard, “And where did you learn this?”

Marinette chewed her lip as she gave a quick glance to Tikki. Even though she technically hadn’t done anything wrong, she still felt like it was completely wrong that she had been around Chat Noir as her everyday self. Tikki looked back at her and offered a gentle nod of encouragement.

Marinete took a deep breath before rambling out, “Okay so, Chat Noir kind of knows me now as a civilian. Sort of. We’ve spoken twice. I don’t think he knows I’m Ladybug! I mean, he behaved completely differently so I don’t think he knows?”

“So you’ve spoken to him out of the mask?” Master Fu confirmed.

Marinette nodded, nervously pursing her lips together as she waited for the old man to scold her for being so reckless. Even though her encounters with Chat Noir while being Marinette had technically been unintentional, they’d still happened and it was dangerous.

“Perhaps we can make use of this.” he mused instead.

Marinette blinked in confusion as her mouth fell open, trying and failing to find a response to give.

Master Fu continued with an intrigued smile, “If you can build some form of trust with Chat Noir as Marinette or Ladybug, perhaps he might be willing to share important information.”

“You want me...to become _friends_ with him?” Marientte asked slowly.

“Forming a connection can lead to many possibilities. He might lead you to whoever Hawk Moth is. Or perhaps he may be convinced to choose a new side. Failing that, you might be able to take his Miraculous without causing a fight first.”

“You’re really telling me to get close to him - to _lie_ to him - just so I can take back his Miraculous?”

“I am letting this be your choice, Marinette. See if you can get to understand him some, encourage him to talk. I believe you could be the right person to offer him the choice of becoming a hero, just as I had intended but unfortunately failed to ensure. If after knowing him you still think he does not deserve the Miraculous, then I will leave it up to you to act how you see fit.”

Marinette stared at him, but from his calm expression she knew he was serious. But still, attempting to lure Chat into a false friendship just to either make him her ally or force the ring from his hand when his guard is down? She hated lying. And attempting to form a friendship with ulterior motives was pretty much lying. But if she could get someone to finally fight by her side or simply remove an enemy from the playing field, then was it really that bad? She wasn’t sure if she liked the idea, but Master Fu was giving her the choice here on how to proceed. And really she was just _so tired_. Something had to change.

“I guess it’s worth a try.” she mumbled.

As Marinette, she’d already told Chat to try and talk to Ladybug. It would make things simpler if he were to approach her first, but if not she’d need to figure out a way to catch his attention again as her civilian self.

Her thoughts stalled as she heard her phone go off in her purse. Master Fu continued to quietly sip his tea while she mumbled her apologies. She took out the device to quickly check it, seeing she’d received a text from Alya.

**Alya: Hope you’re feeling better! We’ll be stopping by after school to meet you on your deathbed!**

Marinette rolled her eyes at the joke before realising the time. If Alya and Nino were coming by after school, then she didn’t have much time. School would be finishing soon and then it was a short walk to the bakery.

“I have to go.” Marinette rushed as she stood up and opened her purse for Tikki.

Master Fu gave an understanding nod, “You can go out the back window if you wish.”

She thanked him as she started to head for the back room which has a sheltered window, an easy exit route for someone not wanting to be seen.

“And Marinette,” he added, making her pause, “Please consider what I have said. In regards to Chat Noir, I won’t tell you his identity. But I think if you can learn something about him, I will let it be your choice on how to proceed. I trust you to make a decision.”

Marinette stared at the man before giving a slow nod. She still wasn’t sure if she liked the idea, but Master Fu was giving her the option to act as she saw fit. She just had to endure getting to know Chat Noir first.

With a quick transformation, it didn’t take long for her to arrive back in her bedroom. She was cutting it close though as she almost immediately received another message from Alya telling her that they’d just reached the bakery. Alya had even teased her about being presentable, which Marinette laughed off as she knew her friend understood how lazy she could be when she didn’t need to worry too much about her appearance. She was still in her comfy hoodie and sweatpants, and her hair was up in a haphazard bun. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, but that felt pointless since she’d been lying in bed anyway. Alya had seen Marinette in such attire at one of their many sleepovers while Nino was someone she had known since they were kids. She was comfortable enough with her friends for them to see her in such a way. What she didn’t count on though, was that Alya’s use of ‘ _we_ ’ had involved one other person.  
Marinette heard Alya calling out for her from the apartment below shortly after she’d gotten back herself. She opened the trapdoor and made her way down the stairs to greet her friends at the now opened door of the apartment, but stopped dead as she turned the corner. Alya gave her a smug grin while Nino offered her a friendly wave. And behind them was Adrien, standing quietly with his hands in his coat pockets as though he wasn’t sure what he was meant to be doing. _Why_ did it have to be today of all days that he stopped by? She was a mess! She couldn’t be seen like this by him!  
Marinette tried to awkwardly step back around the corner of the stairs in a pathetic attempt to hide her not so flattering clothing, but Alya was already approaching her.

“Glad to see you’re up and about!” Alya beamed, taking Marientte’s arm and pulling her out of hiding, “Your mum said you were kind of out of it last night.”

Marinette could only give a weak nod. She could feel her face growing unbearably red from the humiliation. Adrien was seeing her without make up, her hair a mess and her clothing that made her look like a slob.

Catching onto Marinette’s embarrassment, Alya offered a comforting pat on her back as she whispered, “Adrien was worried about you, just so you know. He really wanted to come.”

Marinette shyly looked up at Alya’s reassuring smile.

Nino approached the girls with a grin, “How are you feeling? Your parents say you’re temporarily ungrounded for today, so we can hangout for a bit if you’re up to it.”

“I-I’m okay.” Marinette answered nervously, “Better than yesterday.”

“That’s good.” Adrien said softly, still standing by the doorway.

Marinette meekly met his gentle gaze, hoping that her tinted cheeks could be passed off from her having been ill. Adrien watched her for a moment as his beautiful green eyes flickered. Suddenly he jolted as though coming out of a deep thought.

“Oh! Here.” he spoke quickly as he rummaged in his school bag, “I made a copy of notes for you from today’s classes. I also emailed you a copy of the digital notes.”

Marinette’s eyes widened as she cast an alarmed look at Alya who chuckled in return. Normally Alya was the one who took care of what Marinette missed in school. Alya just gave a casual shrug as if to say ‘I couldn’t stop him’.

Adrien pulled out a very clean looking folder containing some papers.

“It’s all there. If there’s something you don’t understand or need some help, just ask.” he smiled at her as he held out the folder.

Marinette stared at him, forgetting that the _normal_ thing to do would be to go over and take the precious folder from him and graciously thank him for his consideration. Instead she just stood there, owl-eyed and braindead. Alya quickly took to covering for Marientte while she took a minute to reboot her brain.

She arched an eyebrow, eying Adrien as he still hovered in the doorway of the apartment, “Are you not coming in? Marinette’s parents said it was okay.”

Adrien’s normally straight posture seemed to slacken some. It was as though he was shrinking into himself as his shoulders became rigid with tension.

He gave a wry smile, “My bodyguard’s waiting. I could only convince him to let me have a few minutes. Just so I could see Marinette and give her this.”

He gave the folder a small wave, prompting Marinette to realise that it was for _her_ and she was meant to _take_ it.

She tried her best to not frog step her way over as she approached him. Adrien smiled softly at her again, but there seemed to be an anxious flicker in the depths of his eyes. Probably because her awkwardness was keeping him waiting when he was already short on time. She tried to say thank you, but all she managed was a mumbled slur of words as she timidly reached out to take the folder from him. As soon as she touched the folder though, she felt the warmth of his fingers brush against hers. Marinette gasped at the gentle contact and immediately withdrew her hand at the same time as Adrien let go of the folder. The object fell between their awkwardly lingering hands, clattering on the floor and sending some of the pages scattering.

Marinette dropped to her knees and hastily started to gather what she could of the papers, “S-Sorry!”

“Don’t worry about it.” Adrien answered as he crouched down in front of her to help, “That was my fault.”

She kept her eyes fixated on the floor as she clumsily tried to sweep the pages of notes back into the folder. With them both on the floor like this, it would be far too easy for her to look up and find herself directly eye level with him. So she stared at the pages of notes over the floor instead, her heart fluttering when she saw the meticulous nature with which they’d been written. Just from a glance she could tell they were detailed and carefully done. He’d done this for her. He’d been thinking about her at school. She swallowed back a nervous whimper at how her face was heating up again along with her heart rate accelerating drastically.  
She was brought to a pause however when she saw Adrien’s hand carefully picking up one of the pages. He’d been helping gather them, but the action had caused the sleeve of his coat to move up his arm a little. She stared in alarm at the darkening colour around his wrist, blatantly standing out against his fair skin.

“Adrien,” she gasped, “What happened to your arm?”

Adrien quickly snapped his head up to look at her before looking down to his arm. He dropped the page he was in the process of lifting, quickly pulling down his sleeve again to cover his wrist.

“Um, I fell.” he gave a nervous chuckle, “Photoshoot yesterday and I um, fell over the set.”

Marinette furrowed her brow with confusion as he hastily lifted the remaining pages into the folder and handed it over to her.

“You didn’t mention anything about you falling.” Nino commented, his concern obvious in his voice, “You alright dude?”

“Y-Yeah.” Adrien responded quickly as he stood up, once again adjusting the cuff of his coat sleeve, “The sets are sometimes cluttered for photoshoots. Adds a little more realism to the photo or something I guess. I just tripped is all. I’m fine.”

“Did you hurt yourself?” Alya asked gently.

“Just a bruise. No big deal.”

Marinette frowned at the words.

_Just a bruise…_

Adrien backed away a little, “Anyway, I should get going. My bodyguard will be waiting. I’m glad you’re feeling better, Marinette.”

Marinette slowly stood up, clutching the folder of notes in her arms as she looked at him curiously. His verdant eyes sent her heart into a new wave of somersaults though, so she shyly dropped her gaze.

“Y-Yeah.” she murmured, “Thank notes - I mean - thank you for the notes.”

“Oh, sure.” he answered before adding more quietly, “And I’m...I’m sorry. For you being unwell I mean.”

Adrien turned to leave, almost walking straight into Sabine who had just come up the stairs. She carefully lifted away the tray of croissants and cookies fresh from the bakery, preventing Adrien from clumsily walking into it.

“Oh, leaving already Adrien dear?” Sabine asked with a smile.

Adrien shied away, politely stepping aside to let her pass, “Yes. My bodyguard’s waiting so I should get going.”

“Why not take something to eat before you go? They’re still warm.”

He eyed they tray in Sabine’s hands, his expression becoming an unreadable, bizarre mixture as he hastily backed away.

His words fell out in a rush as he made for the stairs, “Sorry, but I really have to go.”

Everyone watched in confusion as he apologised again before disappearing down the staircase out of sight.

“Did something happen?” Sabine asked softly as she turned back to the remaining trio.

Alya thoughtfully touched her lips with a hum, “I’m not sure. He’s been kind of jumpy all day.”

“Maybe his dad got annoyed with him tripping at the photoshoot.” Nino added with an annoyed sigh, “That’s probably why he didn’t say anything about it.”

Marinette’s heart twisted uncomfortably in her chest. Her gaze fell to the folder in her hands and the neat pages it contained. It was so like Adrien to make such a kind gesture, even if unnecessary. It was why she didn’t want to consider the possibility that he had just _lied_ to her. It had definitely been a horrendous bruise she’d seen on his wrist. And given her ability to trip over anything and everything, herself included, as well as cause accidental injury to herself in many other ways, Marinette knew a bruise when she saw one. But the one on Adrien's wrist didn’t look like the sort you’d get from just falling over. The dark purple colouring seemed to wrap around the entirety of his wrist and had a very odd shape to it. No matter how Marinette tried to reason it, it didn’t look normal. But why would Adrien lie about it? The harsh, anxious coil around her heart sank down to the pit of her stomach where it twisted further. It was just a bruise, but something felt wrong. She didn’t like it. She didn’t like it one bit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...that was a chapter.
> 
> Sorry for the delay in this chapter being uploaded! Starting to feel better again, so hopefully it won't be as long a wait for the next one.  
> As always, thank you so much for reading!
> 
> [Selkie on Tumblr](https://heartfulselkie.tumblr.com/)


	8. I'll Play My Part

Adrien was _not_ a liar. If anything, Marinette was absolutely sure that Adrien hated liars just as much as she did. He’d made that clear to her through all of their interactions with Lila, or lack thereof. He never talked with the other girl unless absolutely necessary and never bought into any of the wild fantasies she told. There was no way Adrien himself would _lie_ . So why did Marinette feel so uneasy about what he’d told her?  
It had been bothering her ever since Adrien left. She felt guilty that Alya and Nino had come to hang out with her, but she couldn’t give them her full attention. Thankfully they didn’t say anything about it, only joking about how Marinette must still be out of it from being unwell after losing a few rounds of Ultimate Mecha Strike. She just gave them a quiet smile in response. She wondered if maybe she should talk to them about it and see what they thought, but then they hadn’t really seen the bruise on Adrien’s arm. There was also the chance that she was overthinking again and she didn’t want to get them worried if it turned out to be nothing. No, either she needed to let it go or somehow figure out the strangeness of it a little more.

Marinette lay on her bed that evening, holding her arm above her as she slowly turned her wrist back and forth. If Adrien was telling the truth, then what way did he fall to cause a bruise that seemed to circle the entirety of his wrist? If he was lying, then what could have caused it instead?

Marinette sighed as she let her arm fall to drape over her stomach. She was just thinking herself in circles and it was getting her restless.

“Tikki?” she asked quietly, “Do you mind if we go out for a bit?”

The little kwami popped up beside her, “Are you sure? You should still be trying to rest. You’ve had it tough recently.”

“I know I just...I just need some fresh air.”

Tikki’s large indigo eyes studied her for a moment before giving a nod, “Okay then.”

Marinette gave a relieved smile, “Thanks, Tikki.”

“Ready?”

“Tikki, spots on!”

Breathing in deep the cold night air, Ladybug wandered her way over the rooftops. She settled into one of her usual patrol routes, going on autopilot as she maneuvered her way over and around the rows of buildings. The city was alive with its usual nightlife, of numerous glowing lights and some people wandering about after a night out with friends. Ladybug was glad that people could still feel safe enough to try and enjoy their lives, to try and continue to live normally even with the shadows cast by Hawk Moth’s threat. It was upsetting sometimes that she couldn’t be the same. She always had to be ready to face an Akuma, so it often happened that she couldn’t just enjoy time spent with friends and family. But if it was her happiness and satisfaction against the whole of Paris, then she knew how things had to be. The many outweigh the few, right?

She was moving in an easy run over a set of rooftops when the imposing silhouette of a particular building came into view. She’d tried to convince herself that this wasn’t why she chose this route specifically, but as came up along the terrace of buildings that ran parallel to the side of the Agreste mansion she knew she wasn’t being honest with herself.  
Most of the building appeared to be dark at this hour, but through the tall windows she knew to be Adrien’s bedroom she could see a soft yellow glow within. It had been shortly after midnight when she left, so she was a little surprised to think that Adrien would be awake at this time. Her gaze ran along the bars of windows until she noticed that one of them towards the right was open. That was odd considering that it was fairly cold outside. Why would Adrien leave his window open?

Ladybug walked along the rooftops some more until she could see the space behind the windows a little more. There were only a few small lamps on, looking almost like weak candlelight trying to light up a cavern. A slight movement caused one of the lights to flicker though, immediately drawing her attention. She stared for a moment, her eyes slowly growing wide as her gaze became locked with Adrien’s. He was now standing at the window, staring back at her with equal shock.

_Oh god._

He’d definitely noticed her staring at him. And she was _still_ staring at him so it would be impossible to act as though she’d only briefly looked that direction and hadn’t even noticed him. And she was _continuing_ to stare at him like some brain dead fish. Her movement was ridiculously stiff and awkward as she slowly lifted her hand and waved. Adrien gave a slight jolt of surprise at her action, probably because she looked half crazy standing as still as a board on top of a roof while waving like a robot. He carefully glanced either side of him for a moment as though to check who she was waving to, but of course he was the only person there. He slowly turned back towards her with a faintly curious look on his face, hesitantly lifting his hand before offering her a small wave in return.

Okay this was really awkward. She should have turned and left already, but she was finding herself unable to do so. Her fretful mind was working against her, wanting her to find out what could possibly be going on with Adrien. Maybe she was overthinking things and she was better to just leave it alone. But then maybe there _was_ something, something that for some reason he didn’t want to tell her as Marinette. Right now though, she wasn’t Marinette. She was Ladybug and as Ladybug she’d been able to have a semi normal conversation with him. Surely she could do that again and possibly coax something from him she hadn’t earlier. Maybe she would regret this, but she’d come to a decision.

Casting out her yo-yo, Ladybug lightly stepped forwards before swinging over the street that separated the mansion and the buildings she’d been on. As she neared his window, Adrien stumbled slightly before quickly moving to the open one. As her feet smoothly touched down on the window frame, he came to stand in front of her. His green eyes gazed up at her, looking slightly alarmed and bewildered, yet almost softly glowing in the low light surrounding them.

“...Hi.” he said tentatively.

“Hi…” she responded, almost dreamily as she could feel herself melting from his mesmerising gaze.

“So...are you doing your superhero routine checks on civilians again?” Adrien asked with a smirk, though his eyes somehow appeared almost nervous.

His question snapped her out of her daze, making the slight blush on her cheeks feel even hotter. Yes, right now she was Ladybug and not Marinette. She was _not_ going to fall into a babbling mess just because he has the softest green eyes and looked good even in his casual sweatshirt. Her eyes momentarily flitted down to his wrist, but it was covered by his sleeve so she wasn’t able to see anything of his bruise.

“Something like that.” she laughed nervously, quickly returning her gaze to his so that he wouldn’t catch her looking, “Just going on patrol, making sure the city’s good, making sure everyone’s good. You uh...you good?”

He exhaled a quiet laugh, “Yes, I’m good. Just a little surprised to see you out this late.”

“Oh well, you know. Being a superhero doesn’t exactly have a schedule. Even if it’s quiet I still like to go out and just...see the city.”

“Yeah it’s nice. I mean, it must be from where you can reach.”

Ladybug’s heart fluttered at his shy, still slightly nervous expression. She had to remind herself that Adrien was friends with Marinette, not Ladybug. Of course he would be a bit hesitant with her. But they were talking. _She_ was talking. Her words still felt a little clumsy on her tongue, but she was getting them out.

She tried to keep herself looking casual as she leaned against the window frame, despite how her cheeks felt heated and her heart was rolling with somersaults in her chest.

“What about you?” she asked.

He arched an eyebrow at her, “Me?”

“You’re still awake even though it’s late. And you have your window wide open even though it's cold outside.”

He stared at her blankly for a moment before awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

“I was just taking care of some things.” he answered with a slightly stale tone, “And I was thinking about getting some fresh air. I mean - having the window open for some fresh air.”

Ladybug let out a quiet hum in response. She watched as Adrien’s gaze drifted to the floor while he shuffled awkwardly on his feet. He looked similar to how she was feeling, restless and uncertain.

The words fell out of her mouth before she properly considered what she was saying, “Do you want to go out?”

Adrien’s alarmed eyes immediately snapped back to her, “What?”

“ _Outside!_ ” she squawked as soon as she realised her poor wording, “Do you want to go outside? Like, hang out or something. Like uh...friendly acquaintances?”

“You...want me to hang out with you?” he spoke slowly as though he were struggling to comprehend where the conversation had turned.

“Y-You don’t have to!” she sputtered, “Just that I-I um...I can show you! What it’s like I mean - How the city looks from high up.”

Oh god this was so dumb. It was bad enough that she had been creepily staring at him through his window and then proceeded to stand herself on said window, but now she was pretty much asking if she could kidnap him. He’d been looking so despondent, so she’d offered the first thing that came to mind to try and cheer him up. And now he was looking at her like she’d literally said she was going to throw him out the window. She tried to hide her wince as he shuffled backwards slightly.

“I’m not sure about that…” he said quietly as he looked over his shoulder towards his bedroom door.

“Oh…” Ladybug murmured, “Yeah, I guess they would notice if you were gone.”

She watched as his expression changed briefly. There was a flash of some emotion in him then, but she wasn’t able to read it accurately as it vanished as quickly as it came.

“No. No, i’m not worried about that.” he gave a wry chuckle, “Nathalie stopped by ages ago for her last check for the night. No one will come looking for me again until morning.”

“...Seriously?”

“ _Technically_ I’m supposed to be sleeping.”

Ladybug watched his sheepish expression for a moment before smiling, “You and me both.”

There was another beat of silence between them. Adrien started to spin the ring on his finger as he chewed his lip for a moment.

“Why are you offering anyway?” he whispered, “You don’t know me. Why would you want to be around me?”

“I do know you.” she answered, before adding in a panic, “Th-That is - I know you a little! Yeah, we’ve only talked a few times b-but um...I think you’re good? Nice? I th-think you’re...nice.”

 _Smooth_ , she groaned internally.

His wary green eyes searched her for a moment. She was expecting him to tell her any second now to leave and never come back. But instead he was quiet as his gorgeous eyes flickered in the low light, drawing her in even deeper to his gaze. She had to put a mental block on herself from drifting off into rose-coloured daydreams immediately. She was _not_ going to turn into a blushy puddle right now. She still felt like there was something going on with Adrien, but she didn’t want to ask him outright. As Ladybug she hadn’t seen the bruise, so to ask him about it would raise questions. She had to figure out some way to gently bring up the subject without him getting suspicious or defensive.

Finally Adrien spoke with a wry smirk, “Unfortunately I can’t leave my room so easily. I’m fresh out of magical yo-yos that can make me fly.”

Ladybug giggled at his show of sarcastic humour, “That's okay. I can carry you.”

“...You’ll carry me?”

“Sure! I know I may not look it, but I’m actually pretty strong.”

His eyes widened slightly with faint surprise, “Oh, I’m not saying you’re not! It’s just....um…”

She watched as his brow furrowed and he started to spin the ring on his finger again. After considering it, Ladybug realised that perhaps not everyone likes the idea of soaring over the skyline with nothing but a yo-yo string guiding you.

“I wouldn’t drop you, you know.” she said with quiet sincerity, “It’d just be like riding a rollercoaster.”

His shy laugh made her heart squeeze with joy, “I’ve never actually ridden a rollercoaster.”

“You haven’t?”

“It sounds like a lot of fun though.”

“Oh…”

She stared blankly at him for a minute before the gears of her mind caught up.

“Wait, you actually want to?” she rushed.

Adrien chuckled at her no doubt ludicrous expression, “I doubt many people can say they’ve been offered to see Paris from Ladybug’s viewpoint.”

“And you...would like to?”

“Only if you were being serious.”

“I was.”

Again they stared at each other, an awkward tension stretching out between them. Adrien ducked his head as he nervously rubbed the back of her neck. Ladybug was mentally scrambling to collect herself before she could either become her usual rambling mess or chicken out completely.

“Then…” she said almost breathlessly as she held out her hand, “I’ll show you?”

His cautious green eyes flitted up to her hand and then to her. There was something burning in the depths of his gaze, something that was curious and enigmatic to her.  
Slowly he reached out to her. Ladybug couldn’t help but notice it was with his left, the one without the unsettling bruise. He hesitated a moment as his hand hovered near hers before gingerly taking hold. She carefully but firmly clasped his back. Even through her suit she could feel the slight warmth of his skin and it made her entire arm tingle. She tried to not think about how loudly her heart was pounding in her chest as she pulled him up to balance on the windowsill with her.

“Hold onto me.” she whispered, too nervous to make her voice to go any louder.

Again Adrien hesitated, but he complied as he let go of her hand to slip his arms over her shoulders. She took hold of his waist with one arm while her other hand picked up her yo-yo. She tried to not think about how close he was to her right now and how her senses were going haywire with the warmth from him and his pleasant scent.

“You um...you ready?” she asked, trying and failing to stop the slight squeak in her voice.

Adrien’s head was slightly turned away, looking intently over her shoulder as though he were trying to avoid her gaze completely. It was maybe just her though, as she felt too nervous about making eye contact with him right now since he was so close. She was able to see his curt nod though in response to her question. Taking a deep breath to try and settle the excited jumble of her nerves, she shot her yo-yo from her hand as she leapt from the window.

* * *

He had no idea what he was doing. This was a dumb idea and he shouldn’t have even considered it. Yet here he was, clinging onto Ladybug as she swung them across the night sky. It was a bizarre situation to say the least, one he had never expected in a million years to happen. But when she offered her hand he’d found himself taking it.

Adrien had almost had a heart attack when he saw her standing across from his window. For a horrifying moment he thought she’d discovered his identity and had come to fight him for his Miraculous. But instead she’d greeted him politely and spoken softly with him. Ladybug had even referred to him as a ‘ _friendly acquaintance_ ’, whatever that was. It was probably one way to describe what they were though, as they certainly weren’t friends but not complete strangers either. It was a precarious situation to be in and it made him unbelievably nervous. But maybe he could change that.  
Ladybug didn’t appear to know he was Chat Noir and seemed to find him okay as Adrien. There was a chance he could find some opportunity in that. She was always so blunt and abrasive when it came to Chat Noir, but as Adrien she spoke to him like a normal person. Marinette seemed to think that Ladybug was reasonable, and while he absolutely trusted his friend he still felt too uneasy approaching his enemy as Chat Noir. He needed to figure her out first. After all, he’d been trusting his father’s words this whole time. ‘ _Ladybug was a liar and a manipulator_ ’. ‘ _Ladybug was selfish and spiteful_ ’. She still may very well be those things as Adrien was struggling to really read her most of the time, but so far she hadn’t done anything that made her out to be the cold-hearted person his father said she was. He didn’t want to think his father had made it all up, but Adrien still wanted to find out for himself. He didn’t want to even think about what his father might do should he find out that Adrien was acting alone, but he was stupidly taking the risk. Maybe as his civilian self, Ladybug might let her guard down and say something or do something that could finally end his constant internal conflict. And while he didn’t like underhanded tactics, he might learn something about who she was behind the mask. It would be preferable if he could get her Miraculous without a fight, and this might be a way to do it. Play the dumb civillain and she might underestimate him. He knew it was stupid and risky, but he was going through with it anyway.

“What do you think?” Ladybug’s light voice called to him over the slight wind whipping around them.

Adrien forced himself to look around as she hurled them over the rooftops. He couldn’t stop the way his body tensed each time they rose up before dropping again with each swing. His last experience of this had been when Troublegum had forced them to be stuck together and that had been an extremely uncomfortable predicament. But this time she wasn’t leaving him to grapple for a decent hold of her. She was only holding him by his waist with his arms around her neck to stay balanced, but he didn’t feel himself slip once. It was strong and steady the way she held him, and as he started to slowly feel more secure he found himself enjoying it a little more.

“It’s incredible!” he answered with a small laugh edging into his voice, “Think you can go faster?”

Her immaculate blue eyes gleamed at him, “Is that a challenge?”

“Only if you’re up for it.”

“Depends if the one who’s never been on a rollercoaster has the stomach for it.”

He leaned back slightly so she could properly see his taunting smirk, “Try me.”

Her eyes widened and for a moment he thought he saw a slight pink her cheeks. He quickly forgot about it though as he suddenly felt her arm come away from him. For an agonising moment his heart lurched in his chest, but it one lasted a split second before her arm moved under his knees to lift him up into a bridal carry. His arms instinctively tightened around her neck to help keep himself secure.

“Hold on then.” she grinned, as if it were possible for him to hold on any further.

Ladybug picked up the pace, making him yelp involuntarily at the sudden change in speed. They were rapidly soaring high and sweeping low as the air rushed by them like a whirlwind. He should have felt cold from the brisk air and maybe he was, but the thundering of his heart as it pumped with that familiar high of adrenaline made him forget about such things. It was a similar feeling as to when he’d run through the night as his alter ego, sliding through the shadows as he sprinted as hard as he could to anywhere he wanted. It was similar, but different. Ladybug didn’t maneuver them through the shadows, instead sailing them through the shimmering glow of the city lights. Adrien watched as the warm luminescence rolled by them. Starlight didn’t exist much in Paris given the size of the city and its light pollution, but as they flew seamlessly through the air it was like the starlight existed around them instead. The whirl of lights, colours and sounds was almost surreal. The almost dreamlike sight flowing around them was enough to help him forget the strained ache of his wrist. He hadn’t believed it when Ladybug said she could show him a new view of Paris, but she’d proved him wrong. Her freedom of movement was completely different from his as Chat Noir. She was carefree while he preferred to make use of his heightened senses and stealth to go about undetected. A familiar pang of jealousy shivered in him. She got to do things without fear because in the eyes of everyone she was the hero.

They inevitably came to a stop with Ladybug lightly touching down on a flat roof. Adrien hadn’t realised he was shaking until then, though he still wasn’t sure if it was the winter air or the still surging adrenaline in his veins. She gently set him down on his feet, but she had to hold onto his arms as his legs wobbled under him.

“Sorry.” She said meekly, “Was that too much?”

“That was...amazing.” he answered breathlessly.

Ladybug beamed at him, her bluebell eyes shining before her gaze slowly drifted down to see she was still holding onto his biceps. She let out a tiny gasp as she immediately released him before stepping backwards.  
Adrien didn’t really pay much attention to her confusing behaviour as he was too busy looking around him. He already knew where they’d ended up as he’d so often run along here as Chat Noir. With a quick stride he moved to the edge before hopping up onto the small wall that lined the borders of the rooftop. Breathing in the night air, a small smile came to his lips as he looked ahead to where the spectacular scene of the Eiffel Tower was. It’s iconic outline was gleaming with lights, as though the massive iron beams were coated in liquid sunshine. It was a sight he never got tired of and he had grown to love it all the more with his frequent nighttime runs.

He heard Ladybug’s quiet steps behind him as she approached.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked without taking his eyes off the way the tower seemed to ignite against the dark sky.

“Yeah, you are…” Ladybug whispered before choking out rapidly, “That is - you’re right! It’s beautiful - the tower! The tower is totally beautiful!”

Adrien briefly glanced towards her with a curious smile but she quickly looked away as soon as he did. He remembered then what he was _supposed_ to be doing. He was meant to be trying to figure her out, not let himself drift away in the moment like he would when he was alone as Chat Noir. He looked back towards the Eiffel Tower again as he searched for something to say. Casual conversation certainly wasn’t one of Adrien’s strengths, even more so when trying to start one. His gaze travelled around him as though some beacon in the sky might help him out of his social awkwardness. He shifted his weight, sliding his feet a little over the wall he was on as he readjusted his stance for lack of anything to do.

Ladybug’s quiet gasp made him look down towards her again.

“What?” he asked when he saw her alarmed eyes.

“We’re kind of high up.” she said with obvious concern, “Maybe you should get down from there.”

“You think I’ll fall?”

Ladybug’s eyes flickered over him for a moment. She looked ready to leap forwards should he even lean a little more to the side. For a morbid moment, he wondered if she actually would. Maybe not if she knew who he actually was. But then again, she’d fallen down the Eiffel Tower after him not that long ago.

  
He watched her for a couple of seconds before an idea popped into his head, allowing an easy smirk to tug at the corners of his lips. With her eyes glued on him she saw it clearly as Adrien gave a little jump where he stood. He only bounced himself up on his toes a little, the balls of his feet not even leaving the surface beneath him, but it was enough to make Ladybug let out a stuttered squeal of alarm.

“Adrien!” she half pleaded, half scolded, “Don’t do that!”

“What? This?”

He gave another little jump, this time barely moving himself an inch to the side along the wall. Ladybug’s hands flew up to make a grab for him, just stopping short of actually doing so. Adrien couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the wild mixture of shock and annoyance on her face. He teased and taunted her all the time as Chat Noir, but like this it was slightly different. It was more like how he would mess around with his friends with a little lighthearted fun rather than the strained tension underneath the humour he showed her as Chat.

“You’re pushing your luck.” Ladybug pouted.

Adrien shrugged his shoulders, “I’ll have you know I have impeccable balance. I’m a model after all.”

Her eyes flitted up towards him with a peculiar look. There was something in her expression that he couldn’t quite place, but then he wasn’t always the best at reading people. He thoughtfully chewed his lip for a moment before turning himself to the side.

“Just watch.” he told her with a small grin.

Ladybug furrowed her eyebrows briefly before her eyes widening again as Adrien started to walk. He stepped smoothly along the narrow wall as though he were going down a catwalk, his movement fluid and even. Ladybug hastily stumbled alongside him, her hands still hovering nervously in the air while her eyes were intensely locked onto him. He came to the end of his impromptu catwalk, pausing to give a half turn like he would on an actual runway. Ladybug froze next to him with her eyes still focused completely on him, but the nervous lines had left her expression as she appeared almost in awe of what she’d just seen from him. A rush of embarrassment suddenly flooded him as he realised what he just did. It was one thing to walk down a catwalk with cameras flickering around you, but to show off to an audience of one caused his shyness to overwhelm him once again. He averted his gaze from hers as he felt the heat of his cheeks. Ladybug wasn’t his friend, yet he was goofing around like she was. He went to rub the back of his neck to try and ease the prickling of his nerves, but the action caused a twinge of pain in his sore arm so he quickly settled for spinning his ring instead.

He awkwardly cleared his throat, “That was, um...Sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” Ladybug said, sounding almost breathless.

In the corner of his eye he could see that she was still staring at him.

“That was weird of me.” he admitted with a wry smile.

“No, that was...That was really good.” she replied quietly.

Despite her words, he was feeling self conscious now. He turned where he stood to step down again from the wall, but his foot shuffled over a part where the concrete had become weathered. The already loosening material gave way on the edge, causing his foot to slip out from underneath him. His heart jumped into his throat as he suddenly found himself falling off of the wall. Even though he was falling forwards towards the rooftop, Ladybug immediately grabbed him in a panic and pulled him towards her. He crashed into her and the pair of them stumbled back over the rooftop, their legs quickly becoming entangled as they toppled over.

Adrien didn’t notice the shock of pain in his bruised wrist at first as he threw out his hands to stop himself from falling directly on top of Ladybug. He knelt over her with his hands planted either side of her head while Ladybug lay beneath him, her hands still lightly holding his forearms from when she’d grabbed him. Green met blue and their wide eyed gazes were locked onto each other. Adrien felt frozen there, seeing only her shining eyes, her sleek dark hair and the slight pink of her cheeks. And for the first time he noticed that she had freckles, faintly scattered across her nose and cheeks and just visible underneath the border of her mask. His heart pounded in his chest though he couldn’t figure out why. He almost felt like he was waiting for Ladybug to suckerpunch him or kick him in the stomach like she would Chat Noir, but she didn’t move either.

The strange moment came to an end as the dull ache of Adrien’s wrist became more insistent. He hissed through his teeth, quickly moving aside as he cradled his affected arm against him. Ladybug had been holding onto his arms still, but let go as soon as he moved. She sat up as well, her eyes rapidly searching over him in alarm.

“Are you okay?” she gasped.

He winced as he waited for the throbbing ache to pass, “Y-Yeah…”

“Your arm…”

He looked at her for a moment, causing anxiety to pierce through him when he realised what she was looking at. The sleeve of his sweatshirt had shifted, exposing part of the grotesque colouring on his wrist. The confusing speed of his heartbeat was definitely picking up again as Ladybug stared at the bruise, an array of emotions mixing behind her eyes that Adrien couldn’t even begin to fathom. It felt harder to breathe as her gaze slowly lifted to his.

“What happened?” she whispered.

“It...It wasn’t you just now.” he found himself saying, even though it was obvious that her gentle hold of him wouldn’t have caused such an ugly mark.

“Then...will you tell me what did?”

He swallowed nervously, just about managing to smile, “I tripped at a photoshoot-”

“You really expect me to believe you just _tripped_ ?” Ladybug shot back, “And after you just showed me how _balanced_ you are on your feet?”

"Well, I did just fall-"

"That wasn't you! That was because of a weak patch in the wall!"

Adrien shrank away from her. This was more like the Ladybug he was used to, the one who was irritable and disbelieving. She glared at him before seeming to realise that he was shying away.

She let out a shaky sigh, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. But I just find it hard to believe. So...will you tell me? Please?”

His eyes darted between her and the sliver of blue-black skin partly exposed from under his sleeve. He lightly gripped the fabric of his sleeve in an attempt to tug it back into place, but he found himself frozen. His mind was in disarray as he panicked for something to say. He couldn’t _actually_ tell her, could he? It had been very strongly suggested to him that Adrien wasn’t to say a word of what happened to anyone. His father had already apologised to him that morning anyway for his strong reaction, but hoped Adrien would understand that he felt so strongly because Gabriel cared about him as his son. And Adrien did understand. His father was still grieving for his mother and sometimes his emotions would get the better of him. Adrien had been the instigator, the one who’d caused Gabriel to react to begin with. It wouldn’t have happened if Adrien hadn’t _started_ it.

Adrien’s trembling gaze fell to the empty space between them as his confusing thoughts continued to run rampant.

“It’s my fault…” He murmured, “It’s all my fault…”

* * *

Adrien gave her a slight smile, “I tripped at a photoshoot-”

Anger surged up with Ladybug before she could stop it, “You really expect me to believe you just _tripped_ ? And after you just showed me how _balanced_ you are on your feet?”

"Well, I did just fall-"

"That wasn't you! That was because of a weak patch in the wall!"

He’d unwittingly proven to her just how unlikely his excuse was. She’d never known Adrien to be inherently clumsy, so the idea of him just _falling over_ didn’t sound right. Not to mention that the bruise looked far too much for something as simple as tripping.  
She hadn’t realised how intently she was glaring at him until she saw Adrien shuffle back slightly from where he was sitting. Confused, her gaze flickered up towards his to find him staring back at her. For some reason he looked almost _afraid_.

She took a breath to try and cool her anger again, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap. But I just find it hard to believe. So...will you tell me? Please?”

He said nothing as his shivering gaze searched her a moment before falling away to some unfocused space. She wondered if he was actually going to say something and if there was something she should do. But then he spoke, his voice coming out barely above a whisper.

“It’s my fault…It’s all my fault…”

Ladybug furrowed her brow with confusion, “Your fault?”

He went silent again for a beat before slowly lifting his head once more. She was taken aback by his soft, shy smile as he looked at her.

“I got my arm stuck in a door. Pretty dumb, right?” he laughed dryly.

“A...door?” she repeated, “Then why didn’t you just say that to begin with?”

“Because it’s kind of embarrassing.” the smile didn’t leave him as he shrugged, “I’m already blond and a model. Plenty of people want to add ‘brainless’ to that list as well. Tabloids would have a field day if they found out I failed to operate a door.”

“So you got stuck...in a door?”

“An automatic one. I wasn’t paying attention and it closed on me.”

Ladybug studied him for a moment while he awkwardly smiled back at her. She had to admit, her own bad luck had caused her to run into plenty of doors or have them close on her in the past. She could kind of understand why Adrien would try to hide it, since she had found it plenty embarrassing herself. Still, it was a little hurtful to think that Adrien hadn’t told his friends the truth. Did he think for some reason that they would have laughed at him for it? It still seemed a little weird, but she could relate to his hesitation a bit.

She shook her head to let go of those thoughts for now. She was Ladybug right now and Ladybug was just ‘ _friendly acquaintances_ ’ with Adrien.

“Are you alright?” she asked to try and move past the awkward silence they’d fallen into.

Adrien gave a slight nod, “Yeah. It just looks worse than it is. It’ll go away quickly, so no worries.”

“Oh, good to know.”

Another silence stretched out between them. Ladybug wrestled with her mind as she searched for something to say to try and end the overbearing quiet, but then she noticed the slight shivering of Adrien’s shoulders.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” she rushed, “You must be freezing out here!”

Adrien’s eyes widened before he gave a slight chuckle, “It’s not that bad.”

She could tell by the slight shake of his voice he was downplaying it. She had a magical suit to ward off the bitter winter air, but Adrien was just dressed in casual clothing. Adrien jolted in alarm at the speed with which she stood up.

“Come on, I’ll take you back.” she smiled as she held out her hand to him.

His eyes flickered over her as he hesitated. She watched as he carefully tugged his sleeve back down over his wrist before reaching out to take her hand. Even though it wasn’t his injured arm, she still took hold of him gently as she helped him to his feet. She prompted him to move closer as she wrapped an arm around his middle like earlier. His arms slipped over her shoulders again, making her heart thunder loudly within her chest like it _wanted_ him to hear it.

She tried and failed to keep her voice from stuttering, “R-Ready?”

She couldn’t bring herself to look at him directly for fear of him seeing the dark colour of her cheeks, but she was able to catch the small nod he gave her. Taking her yo-yo in hand, she lifted them up into the air and started to swing back towards the Agreste mansion.

It didn’t take long before they were touching down at Adrien’s bedroom window again. She felt the lack of his warmth and presence within her hold immediately as he moved away from her, but she didn’t dare let herself cling to him. Adrien carefully slid from her grip until his feet were firmly on the floor of his room and she let him go without complaint. He backed up a step before lifting his head to look up at her as she stood in his window, his green eyes almost seeming to glow in the dim light.

“Thank you.” he said quietly, “For um, for letting me get out for a bit.”

“You’re welcome.” she returned shyly.

She lingered there, not quite feeling ready to say goodbye. But there was no reason for her to be there now. She liked being like this. Just the two of them without her floundering in a mess of her own words. Of course it wasn’t ideal that she was in a mask, but right now it seemed to be working for her. Ladybug didn’t stutter or mess up her words, Marinette did. Marinette might be friends with Adrien, but as Ladybug she felt like she’d gained some sort of understanding with him she hadn’t ever known before. It was probably selfish of her, but she didn’t want to let go of that.

“Can I-”

“Can we-”

They’d both started to speak at the same time. They paused briefly before smiling sheepishly at one another.

Adrien gestured to her, “Um, you first.”

“Oh, no you first. Please.” she insisted.

He let out a quiet sigh, his eyes flickering while he appeared to contemplate what he wanted to say. She patiently waited for him, her heart racing as she wondered what was on his mind.

“If you're out making sure everyone and everything is good and you pass by this way again then... um...come say hello?” he said quietly, “O-Only if you want to of course.”

“I want to.” she answered immediately, “If it’s not too much trouble for you I mean. I wouldn’t want to drop by unannounced or anything though…”

She tried to not think about turning up at his window when he was sleeping or in the shower. If that happened she would probably die of embarrassment.  
Adrien watched her before his gaze drifted away. He appeared to be in deep thought as his eyes remained in some unfocused space for a time. He evidently must have reached some conclusion as he inhaled sharply before quickly walking across his room. Ladybug watched him in confusion as he fussed over the standing lamp next to his piano for a moment. He unplugged the object before pulling it with him towards the wall near the open window where he plugged it in. The soft glow of the lamp flickered on again, giving a new gentle illumination to his features as he stood next to it.

“I’ll leave this here by the window.” he explained, “And if it’s on then you know it’s okay for you to stop by.”

Ladybug paused in her amazement for a moment before giggling, “So it’s a secret signal then?”

Adrien blinked at her before giving her a grin that sent her heart into a new wave of spasms, “A secret Ladybug signal.”

She laughed again, “Then, next time I pass by here and see it on I’ll come say hello.”

“Please do.”

She stayed a moment longer, committing to her memory how the soft glow of the lamp gleamed in his eyes and highlighted his hair in a colour similar to smooth honey.

“I’ll see you around then?” he said, bringing her back to reality.

“Yes!” she answered, a little too eagerly, “I’ll...see you around.”

She gave him an awkward wave, quickly taking her yo-yo before she could do anything to embarrass herself anymore than she already had. The last thing she saw as she soared away once more into the night sky was his soft smile.

Swinging high over the rooftops, Ladybug couldn’t contain her giddy laughter. For a short, blissful time she could forget about everything else that had been circulating her mind. Adrien wanted to see her more. She’d gained a new avenue for getting to know him better. Now all she had to do was not screw it up.

* * *

Adrien’s smile faded as soon as Ladybug was out of sight. He lingered there by the open window before slowly reaching out and closing it. He’d planned on going out for a run of his own, but that felt a little pointless now.

“So,” Plagg said as he popped up from the collar of Adrien’s sweatshirt, “Making friends now?”

Adrien snorted, “I’m trying to figure things out. I doubt she actually wants to be friends with a civilian, but if she lets her guard down around me then I might be able to get some more information. Maybe she knows something that can help. Or maybe I can figure out a way to get her Miraculous.”

Plagg studied him for a moment before giving a small shrug, “If you’re sure kid.”

Adrien frowned. He wasn’t sure, that was the problem. But it felt like their options were running thin. His father was becoming more unpredictable and it worried Adrien. He wanted to do _something_ that could help their situation so his father didn’t have to keep up with whatever strain was on him. He knew it could end badly if Gabriel found out what he was doing, but Adrien hoped that maybe if he could do something _right_ then his father might actually be proud of him. The earrings were their goal, Adrien couldn’t forget that. The earrings could solve the painful gap in their family that seemed to be growing larger with each passing day.

Adrien lifted his hand up, his gaze drifting down until he could see the small part of the bruise peeking out from under his sleeve. The dull ache continued to throb in his arm as he blankly stared at it.

 _It was a one time thing_ , he told himself, _He said it wouldn't happen again._

He would do what he could to ease his father’s worries, to do all that he could for that end goal they were desperate for.

His gaze lingered on his wrist as his other hand reached for the lamp beside him, switching it off and sinking his room into darkness. The only light came from the city lights outside now, casting bars of light and shadow across his room. His hands fell to his sides again as he looked towards the blue-black sky.

_Just a little longer...Just wait for me a little longer and I’ll bring you back...I’ll make sure of it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are moving forward, but probably not in the ways either of them expect.
> 
> Whew, ended up with a delay on getting this chapter done since I was working on getting my other one completed. With my other fic now over, all my writing attention will be on Citrus and Lavender now. Thank you for your patience!
> 
> And thanks as always for the comments and kudos! You're all amazing <3
> 
> [Selkie on Tumblr](https://heartfulselkie.tumblr.com/)


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